Random Title Here
by Estelecx
Summary: What would it be like if you found out everyone you loved weren't even the same race? How far would you go? How many worlds would you explore to find your true roots? This is an old roleplay between a friend and I. We posted it online to keep track of it as well as let friends view it, If you like it as well it's all the better :)
1. Chapter 1

We started walking back to Celeste's house from the Halloween party at the school. How they managed to get permission to hold a party in the gym and the den is beyond me, but it was pretty fun, nonetheless. Celeste had eaten a ton of sugar at the party and was slowly getting hyper from tiredness. I, fortunately, was still unaffected by the half ton of treats I had eaten. Our costumes were a big hit at the party. Most people though we bought them, when in actuality, we made them from scratch… well, mostly. I had helped Celeste become a Goth for the night, but we had skipped out on the makeup due to the fact that she couldn't stand it. Her costume consisted of fish net gloves, loose black jeans, a black t-shirt, a leather jacket, a pair of knee high no-heel boots and a fake lip ring. She also had her trademark spiked collar, studded belt and chain wallet. I couldn't help but to say that she did a pretty darn good job with the idea. I however, had made myself out as a Wind Goddess, just for kicks. The costume consisted as a dress I made with long, loose sleeves. It really worked well with my curls, which were co-operating for once. I had some white eye-shadow and lipstick on, simply to go with the theme. My silver heels complimented the rest of my outfit nicely as well. Apparently, my Princess Zelda costume didn't teach me anything about walking on the streets in a dress, and Grad never taught me anything about high heels.

"Never again… I swear never to wear heels ever again," I muttered. My feet were in pain, but taking my shoes off now was as dumb as leaving them on. There was glass everywhere.

"Hey Vicki," Celeste blurted.

"Yeah?" I mumbled. I was slightly preoccupied with eating my remaining sweets.

"Are we there yet?" Celeste asked. I stopped mid chew and stared at her. I swallowed the candy before responding.

"… Just say something like 'I like pie' next time you want to break the silence, please," I sighed, popping another candy into my mouth.

A few more minutes of silence passed. I noticed something sparkle in the corner of eye.

"Hm? What's that?" I whispered.

"Let's check it out," Celeste said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the object.

"Maybe we shouldn't… Celeste?" I whimpered. I was obvious that she had forgotten my fear of dark alleys, mainly due to the fact that we were in the Walley region of Surrey.

"Come on! Don't be a chicken…" she snickered. Now I felt as though she was doing this on purpose. She continued to pull me towards the object until it came into perfect view. She picked up the glowing item slowly and held it up to my face.

"Hey, what do you think this is?" she asked in pure confusion. I took it with my free hand and felt the object. I twisted my hand out of her grip. It was a smooth, translucent red orb. I noticed it was no larger than a five pin bowling ball.

"It reminds me of materia… It's pretty, isn't it?" I responded calmly. I pushed back my need to jump around and call myself the Great Ninja Yuffie to inspect it further.

"Well, well! What's a pair of pretty young ladies doing in an alley at this time of night?" a voice laughed from the entrance. I hid the glowing ball behind my back quickly. We spun and noticed three people in suits. The one with the red hair was grinning at us stupidly. They felt familiar, as if I knew them from something.

"If you're darkness and light, then I must be the balance between you," he stated. The bald one sighed.

"You moron! We can't stay on this planet too long!" the girl growled, slapping the redhead on the back of the head.

'This planet…? Are they astronauts…? Wait a second, they look like-' I thought, interrupted by Celeste nudging me.

"He looks like Reno, doesn't he?" she asked.

"Yeah, he does," I responded. Another slap sounded.

"You idiot! You've been here before!" the girl yelled.

"Actually, all three are familiar," I sighed. Now I remembered them. They were Reno, Rude and Elena from Final Fantasy VII. Figures this would happen to us. The three Turks stared at me.

"Uh… Anyways, we should be heading home, shouldn't we?" I said nervously.

"Right…" Celeste said. We walked right past the Turks quickly. I tried to keep the ball out of their sight. That, apparently, didn't work too well.

"Hey! My materia!" Reno shouted. He started running towards us.  
"You know what? Screw the glass!" I yelled. I pulled off a heel and threw it at him. It decked him in the face. I had no time to enjoy my victory. I quickly pulled off the other heel and threw it at Rude, who caught it.  
"Crap!" I turned and ran for it. Celeste was already far ahead of me. I held the dress up to make it easier to run. Unfortunately, holding the summon materia made it harder to hold the dress.

"Hurry! Get them!" Reno shouted behind me. I tried running faster. I was already losing breath.

"Celeste!" I screamed. I knew I wasn't going to make it with the materia, but I also knew that I couldn't let them keep the materia. They abused its power before. Celeste kept running for her life. It was then that I realized that my righteousness got me into this mess… or one too many video games. I couldn't tell. Either way, I needed a way out, and I needed a way out fast. I gasped for breath as something hit me in the back of the neck. My legs stopped working, and I fell screaming.

"Vicki!" Celeste cried. I started crying as I hit the ground hard, still holding the materia in a death grip. My sight started to go and I could herd PJ barking like mad running towards us from Celeste's house. I felt my body being lifted as I heard a body hit the cement. All I could do now was cry myself into a forced sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Random Title Here Chapter 2

"Celeste!" I heard from behind me but it sounded kind of far off. I looked behind to see how far she was from me. I watched her fall to the ground with a dull thump. Elena was standing there behind her when she fell and looked up at me.

"Vicki!" The thought finally registered to me of what had happened. I ran towards her without thinking and ducked right in between Reno's legs. He stomped on my back hard and I let out a loud scream. As he hit me in the head the last thing I saw was Vicki right in front of me, still breathing. I faintly heard my dog P.J. barking as I faded from consciousness.

I woke up with a large migraine and tried to remember what happened. Then it hit me… well my dog did. I sprung up fast from shock. Bad idea. I started rubbing my head in pain.

"So, you're finally up." I heard from through the wall.

"Who? What? How?" I looked at the wall.

"For question number one, it's Vicki. Number two, I can read your thoughts. And the third, I don't know how," she said. The walls must be really thin.

"Like Miu? Do you think the materia did it? Do you still have it?" I was wondering if I had powers too.

"Hey Celeste stop ignoring meeeee!" a high cute voice rung out. I looked down to see P.J. looking at me.

"Who said that?" I asked, looking at the dog expecting him to get hyper.

"Me, silly!" He half yelped.

"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed.

"Was that P.J.?" I heard Vicki yell through the wall.

"What's going on in here?" Reno growled as he walked in.

"Ahh! Holy crap it was him! Where the hell are we?" I half yelled.

"Why did you take my master, odd looking person?" P.J. sat looking at him.

Reno suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared at P.J.

"Did he just do what I think he did?" he asked, shock pulsing in his voice.

"I swear I didn't have an accident yet, if that's what your implying" P.J. calmly said.

"How does he know how to talk?" Reno pointed at P.J., and at that I stood up.

"Hey don't ignore me and answer my question, why are we here?" I was getting quite annoyed with all this and not having reason as to why it was happening.

"You're here 'because you know of us, and why can it talk?" Reno stepped cautiously towards us. Big mistake. As if we had planned it, we both lunged at Reno. Taken by surprise he fell over onto his back. I got up and I ran out to get Vicki while P.J. stood guard.

"Hurry Celeste I hear guards!" I heard his little voice yell in a high tone.

"I can't get it open!" I was trying to push random buttons in hopes of the door opening. P.J. growled in annoyance.

"Celeste get out of the way. Vicki back up as far as you can." P.J. ordered.

Just as I moved out of the way when Reno popped up and grabbed me.

"Gotcha you little brat." He said as I thrashed in his arms and screamed. Suddenly I felt something dark from inside me, and then as if reacting off instinct, I let it out and directed it towards Reno. He screamed as he flew backwards into a wall. Meanwhile, P.J. had magically gotten Vicki out while I was busy. Her cell had been completely destroyed. Vicki was also a little pale.

"Let's get outta here!" Vicki barked.

"Where will you go once you get outta here?" Elena came around the corner and looked at Reno. "You couldn't take on this poser?" Elena half complained.

"Poser?" I walked forward and stood in front of her. "Call me that again."

"What Pos-" Suddenly she fell next to Reno because I had decked her in the face.

"Wow, nice one Wonder Woman," Vicki said. She snickered a little as I glared at her.

"Just be glad she's not PMS-ing" P.J. mumbled.

"What?" I snapped. Vicki shivered.

"Nothing. Now you wanna get outta here?"

"Where _will_ we go exactly?" I asked.

"I don't know I was just following you master."

"Hmm...Vicki wanna stay in my cell with us since yours is broken till we can find a good plan to get out and what to do?" I grinned. Both Vicki and P.J. sighed in defeat and we all went in the cell and shut the door, while the mess outside was still there for Rude to find.

Vicki tossed around a lot that night. It was like she was having a nightmare. Occasionally, she would attempt to claw, kick or bite the air.

'What could she possibly be dreaming about?' I wondered. I got up from my bed and sat next to her. She turned around and slammed her arm into my leg. Her breathing was a little heavy. Sweat rolled down her face. Her hand suddenly grabbed mine causing me to cry out in surprise.

"D-don't leave… Please stay… Celeste…" she mumbled. It almost sounded like she was whimpering like a dog. A tear fell from her eye, something she wasn't able to manage before.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to leave you." I rubbed her shoulder lightly to console her. Her grip on my hand tightened. She woke up suddenly, screaming. P.J. jumped onto his feet.

"What's going on?" he yelped. Vicki just shook, wiping away her sweat and tears.

"I… It was just a bad dream…" she sighed.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She whimpered and shook her head. She grabbed me in a tight embrace, refusing to let me go.

"Promise me you won't go away." she whined.

"…I promise." I sighed.

"Thanks Celeste." Vicki's grip loosened as she curled into the embrace. I sighed again, patting her back until she fell back asleep. I lay her back down and crawled back onto my bed. P.J. jumped onto the bed and curled into me as sleep quickly came back to me.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you done yet?" Celeste complained.

"Shush. I'm not Jill Valentine," I growled softly. The makeshift lock pick made it hard to unlock the cell door. On top of that, it was my first time picking a lock. Smart choice, PJ...

"Please hurry. They didn't take me outside yet…" PJ whimpered.

"And I seriously didn't need to hear that," I sighed. Now that we had a plan, we were trying to escape again. I called it: "Plan B: Get out before Hojo experiments on us". Now, getting out was going to be a little tricky, considering I was still in a dress. Ripping it was _not_ an option. I guess it was just because I spent far too much time making it. We had decided on stealth, to make sure that battles would be out of our agenda. I knew the basic floor plan of the building, and I was going to make sure that we used the elevator. In my mind, we could get cornered if we took the back stairs. Also, they might expect that. Should we get into a scrap, we decided to try to make it as long range as possible. The summoning materia was still in my possession. From all the games we had played, both Celeste and I knew that summoning was tricky and tiring, so it was a last resort. Unfortunately, all that planning went to waste when the guards came around.

I hid the sad excuse for a lock pick under the pillow. The guards walked up to the cell and opened it.

"Alright, everyone out," one of the guards growled. Celeste and I shared a look of confusion. I shrugged and walked out first. The one guard grabbed my arm and shoved me forward. I could just barely hear Celeste complaining.

'Sure, _now_ I learn to tune it out…' I grumbled to myself. I noticed that there were four guards in total: one in front of me, one in between me and Celeste, one behind Celeste and one to carry PJ. It figures that the guards would get competent the day they captured us. After a few floor changes, we were shoved into a testing area.

"Oh no…" I whimpered. Soon after, Celeste, PJ and I were separated. I whimpered the entire time I wasn't doing anything. I could just barely see what was happening to Celeste and PJ. Celeste had to fight some robots and monsters. Luckily, they were level 5 monsters. Celeste had no problem dealing with them, as she was literally throwing them across the room. Something dark kept coming out of her, making my nose twitch. It felt as though she was sucking the life out of the monsters and was using the dead bodies to destroy the robots. Sometimes, she would jump onto a robot and rip out its circuits. She scared me a lot when she did. It almost seemed as though she was enjoying it. Closer to the end of her fight, she had a monster cornered.

"Imma eat your heart and crap out your soul!" she sneered. I looked away as she killed it in a bloody mess. PJ had it easier. All he had to do was talk and do a couple exercises. The exercises consisted of running on a treadmill, beating up a couple level 5 monsters and an IQ test.

Finally, my turn came. I struggled against the guards, screaming at the top of my lungs. Eventually, I hit one of the powers I was hoping for. A shattering screech emanated from my vocal chords, causing all of the guards around me to drop. I fell to the floor in fear curling back into the small room they were keeping me in. A monster dragged me out of the room before I could screech. It threw me into the middle of the room. I whimpered loudly, hoping that would make the monsters I was up against feel slightly sorry for me. No dice. I inhaled deeply and let out a second screech. The monsters screamed, covering up my own yelp of pain. I felt my ears lightly.

'I'm changing? What great timing! Now Hojo's going to use me in DNA experiments!' I thought, frantically looking for a way out. I could see Hojo getting a large grin on his awful face. A sudden anger swelled up inside me, along with fear and sadness. Stood slowly, in time with the monsters and let out a howl from deep within me. Honestly, not a single creature was left unsurprised by this action. I felt a little wind brush against me. I now knew my control over the wind had surfaced. The wind swirled around me, throwing my skirt in every direction. I began to float into the air slowly as the wind picked up its pace. I flipped Hojo before throwing the monsters into robots and creating a thin enough wind that literally sliced my opponents in half. I could hear their screams in my head. I cried because of it, my tears flying into my wind shield. Blood splattered against the walls, painting the words "love", "white", "fire", "bird", and "dog" on the walls, all in kanji. On one of the walls, I wrote "How Could You?" and "Why Us?" in a mixture of oil and blood. I howled again, slicing a perfect circle in the ceiling. I eventually fell to the ground, exhausted.

The guards rushed in and opened the rooms Celeste and PJ were being held in. Celeste ran up to me as quickly as she could.

"Vicki! Are you okay?" she yelled. I nodded, completely out of breath. PJ rubbed his head against my side. Hojo walked into the room. I growled lightly, my hatred swelling up inside again. My strength had sadly completely left me.

"Good… Good!" he exclaimed, a sadistic grin crossing his face. Celeste got up and rammed Hojo into the wall, gripping his throat tightly.  
"What did you do to her?" she demanded, violently pulling her hand into a fist.

"Why nothing. I am surprised by her actions as you are!" he said calmly.

"You f***ing liar!" she screamed, slamming Hojo into the wall again. The guards came up to her and pulled her away from Hojo. PJ was looking around as he was picked up. His new silence creeped me out a lot.

A guard picked me up lightly. He held me closely, slipping something into my bra strap. Celeste continued to thrash around and scream. The guard carried me to a cell next to the one I shared with Celeste and PJ. He put me down on the makeshift bed and leaned in close to my face.

"Use the item I gave you and get out of here," he said coolly. I gave a slight nod. He left my cell and locked it.

'Could it be…?' I thought, watching the man leave.

I waited until my voice returned to me before I sat up. Celeste was still screaming. It was this moment that I wished the walls were thicker. I pulled the item out of my strap. It was a switch knife. I grinned widely. Now I just needed a plan. I played with the knife for a bit until I got extremely annoyed with Celeste.

"At least let us have a shower!" she screamed. That gave me a perfect idea.

"Celeste. Shut up for a minute," I growled.

"Vicki? You're okay! They put PJ in the next cell over!" she shouted.

"I know. I'm telepathic, remember?" I said calmly.

"Oh, right."

"Listen, just give me a minute of peace and then you can start yelling again, okay?"

"Okay!"

Little did she know that getting her to be quite was just the beginnings of a plan to get out of here. The man had given me a chance to get out of the building with my life, and I planned on using it. Of course, I was going to use my plan on all three of us. I waited patiently for someone to come by. Rude was my hapless victim.

"Hey, Rude?" I said in my cutest voice. He turned my way.

"Could you let us use the showers? Please?" I asked. I swore he was going to have a nosebleed, which was creepy, considering the large age difference. He quickly called over a few guards to take us to the washroom. I was going to inform Celeste and PJ the true purpose of this once we were there. I couldn't help but grin when I knew no one was looking.

'Plan C: Get Out Of Here with the Help of a Spy in effect. Now, time to create Plan A: Get Back at Hojo,' I thought, walking with a calm stride.


	4. Chapter 4

They had allowed us to finally take a shower and I had decided to bitch and moan till they let me take pj too saying he stunk really badly.

"Okay Vicki now what?" I finally said after a long period of silence. I was petting the dog who didn't seem to have any issues with it.

"Someone gave me this switchblade so we're going to try to break out."She replied turning on a shower to drown a bit of the conversation out.

"You know who it's from?" I asked looking at the blade.

"It was from someone who works for me." P.J. stated.

"Wait, you know people from this world?" Vicki asked shocked.

"Yes, but worry about that later right now shower and then we'll come up with a plan, you guys stink."P.J. mumbled the last part.

"Hey, I don't smell as bad as you!" I whined

"Anyway...let's hurry up." Vicki said walking away.

We finished up our showers (P.J. somehow came out clean and smelling like shampoo but I didn't see him at all after we left so I don't know how he managed it.) I decided not to question P.J. for now but another question popped up. "Vicki are you seriously gunna keep wearing that dress?"

I had changed my outfit a bit by tying the leather jacket around my waist and I kept my boots tied loosely and since my top had my belly showing I had my belt just hanging off the top of my hips. I seriously didn't think Vicki would want to wear the dress long.

"Go ask for some clothes Celeste" P.J. ordered

"Why me?" I whined.

"Because I don't feel like going around in a towel."Vicki said matter-of-factly.

"Okay" And with that I slipped outside to look for someone to help me get clothes. No sooner did I leave did I bump into someone like I always seem to do.

"Hey you're Celeste, P.J's friend right?"

"Well actually I'm his master, and you are?" I looked up to a man with black hair that started to laugh.

"He said he'd never have a 'master' last time I saw him. I'm reeves by the way." He looked down at me. "What are you looking for anyway kid?"

"Umm you must be thinking of a different P.J. cause mine is my pet dog, and I'm looking for clothes for my friend." I was confused as to what the hell he was talking about.

"Oh so he has the form of a dog now. Anyway common, I'll show you where we keep spare clothes." Reeves started walking away.

I followed after him confused about what he was telling me. We ended up on another floor and into what looked like a storage room. "So each box has a different type of clothing. You know shirts, pants, socks, ECT. You still need me?" He looked ready to leave.

"Reeves! Where are you?" I heard two sets of footsteps coming towards us. I quickly pulled out random clothes that looked surprisingly close to Miu's outfit that Vicki draws.

"Reeves! What on earth are you doing with this lowly experiment that Reno and his idiotic friends dragged in?" I recognized that voice instantly as Scarlet. And Rufus was right behind her.

"I was just helping her out since she IS a human being." Reeves sneered. I was just surprised to see him defending me.

"Yeah, human. What kind of human can suck out souls from living things and rip apart Hojo's robots with her bare hands? It's almost like her and her friend was infused with Jenova cells like Sephiroth." That pissed me off.

"How 'bout I take your soul to shut you the hell up?" I glared at her with venom dripping off every word. Everyone looked taken back.

"Reeves, just take her back to her cell like the animal she is." Scarlet said walking away. Rufus looked at me with a slight apologetic look, and then followed after her. I was about to run after her to show her a piece of my mind when Reeves put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head. "She's not worth it, just ignore her. Besides you'll be outta here soon anyway."

"What do you mean?" I started walking out as he followed me.

"You'll probably find out soon enough." He smiled as he walked past me. "You know how to get back right?" I nodded "Okay see you soon."

"What did he mean by that?" I wondered as I walked back to the showers. I'm guessing I looked like I was zoned as I walked in because I was immediately questioned by Vicki. I absent-mindedly handed her, her clothes and went to P.J.

"What's your true form?" I went right to the point.

"What are you talking about?" He was going to play dumb.

"Your true form. Reeves said something about knowing you and that you were using a 'dog form' now. What is it?" Vicki was fully dressed and came out to see P.j. looking nervous.

"What's going on?" Vicki said looking at us watching each other.

"Okay I'll show you my true form." P.J. suddenly had a magic symbol appear under him and he started glowing. I looked beside me and saw Vicki's shocked face. Then when the light died down, there stood a wolf that looked like a larger P.J, with the same fur pattern and the same brown and blue eyes.

Suddenly we heard a crash and saw a red blur rush past us and appear beside him.

"We're all set here Vincent." P.J. said looking at the new figure that came out of the blur.

"Holy Crap!" Vicki and I said in unison.

"Yeah I'm ready to go to. But first you two take these." Vincent threw each of us a small bag that could easily be fastened to us.

"Get on me so we can go. Vicki that knife can be used as a lock pick so keep it safe in your pack." P.J. instructed. I realized how deep his voice was now.

We got on and Vincent started inform and we followed, whenever we made it to a new level more soldiers appeared and before long the alarm went off.

"Vicki get the blade out the rest of the doors from now will be locked, we'll try to hold them off. Vicki nodded as we got to the first door, in about ten minutes she got the first one done and we went through. After the first one she kept getting them unlocked quicker and soon we were out the front and in the subway tunnel running towards the 7th district.

"Okay get off me, I'm going to change back to my dog form." Once we got off he went back to his dog form and I carried him in behind Vincent and Vicki.

Tifa was in the front when we entered.

"Oh Vincent your back now, did you bring P.J.?" Tifa went in front of the bar. And Vincent moved out of the way so Tifa could see us better.

"P.J? Are you a dog now?" Tifa mumbled walking towards me and P.J.

"Yeah how ya doing Tifa?" P.J. greeted.

"OMG P.J. YOU LOOK SO CUTE!" A crazy ninja fell from the floor and took P.J. from me and started smothering P.J. who looked like he was uselessly using his paws to push him away.

"Give the poor pooch a break Yuffie, you're killing him and he just got outta here." Cait Sith came up on his marshmallow thing.

"Reeves?" I asked remembering playing the game, so hopefully he'll just think I'm really smart.

"You catch on quick kid." Bingo.

"Yuffie let me go!" P.J. commanded pushing Yuffie away with all his might.

"But you're just so CUTE!" Yuffie replied.

"That's it!" suddenly P.J. started glowing and Yuffie stood shocked as P.J. took the form of a human...a NAKED human.

"OH MY GOD MY EYES!" Vicki shrieked. As an instant reaction I took my jacket and covered his...erm...parts with it.

"You could have thought that out better." I growled

"Well Yuffie's the only one who he loses his top to." Tifa replied. "I'll go get his clothes."

While Tifa was taking an eternity to get the clothes everyone was standing around in a tense atmosphere with me standing dumbly covering my dog looking at his shaggy hair that still covered his bi-coloured eyes it was a light brown colour with white tips and fringe, and light black streaks. Everyone was looking the other way. Finally, Tifa came and gave P.J. a tux.

"You guys should get to bed now you look tired, Yuffie will show you a room to sleep in." Tifa offered "We'll wake you up in the morning."

Yuffie started skipping away as we followed and it was then we realized how tired I was.

"This is your guys' room I'll see you in the morning, night." Yuffie bounded away.

I silently walked over to a bed and passed out before my head hit the pillow. The last thing I realized before I went to sleep was how good the souls I at in our escape tasted.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke the next morning with a pain in my stomach. I remembered now that I hadn't been fed in at least two days. I crawled out of my bed and pulled on my jacket. I still found it creepy that Shinra had my character's exact clothes. It was weird that PJ had been a human all along, and weirder that he knew the cast of Final Fantasy VII. In fact, I was finding this whole thing weird, creepy and scaring at points. I pulled my new switchblade up to a lock I stole.

"I wonder why you were on the floor." I whispered to the lock, "Oh well, you belong to me now."

I picked it open within a minute. A grin crossed my face. I shut the lock again and shoved it into my pocket. The fact that I had taught myself to pick locks with a knife amused me endlessly. I felt strangely good for this morning, minus the pain in my stomach. I knew that I was simply hungry. I walked down the stairs.

"You're up early," Tifa said, looking at me coming down the stairs.

"I don't sleep much. I normally don't need it," I explained plainly. I sat at the bar.

"Do you need any help? 'Cause otherwise, I'm going to raid the fridge, if you don't mind," I sighed after a long silence.

"Not really. Help yourself to anything in there," she replied. It appeared that we were the only two awake. On my way to the kitchen, I accidentally tuned into her thoughts.

'I wonder why she has such long ears… PJ said that she smelt different afterwards, but after what?'

"Well, I guess it is unnatural here to have long ears," I thought out loud. I heard a glass clink loudly. I slapped my hand over my mouth in response.

"h-how…?" was all Tifa could manage to say.

"Uh… it's a little complicated… in basics, I'm a latent telepath…" I struggled getting the words off of my tongue.

"Latent?"

"Well, I got this ability recently. I can't control it. I'm sorry for reading your mind!" Tifa walked into the room. She looked a little pale. I stared at the ground.

"Knowing my luck, I'm going to get other powers too. As cool as that is, I have a bad feeling about it. On top of that, I'm changing. I was human, but now I'm turning into a fictional character I created by accident." I had no idea why I was spilling all of this information to her. It was probably because I was scared shitless of myself. I began to cry, shaking as I continued to explain most of what happened and what I felt was going on. I felt Tifa's arm wrap around me. Although this action shocked me, I knew that something like this would happen.

'Damn it! Why am I so damn emotional all of a sudden?' I mentally screamed.

Celeste came down with a fully dressed PJ. I could feel their stares on us. Tifa gave them a signal to go away. As soon as I knew that they were out of sight, I grabbed Tifa in a bear hug. Almost an hour later, we emerged with a large amount of food. I ate in complete silence, blocking out Celeste's prying. I quietly sighed, looking out the window. The streets were busy with people already. Reminded me too much of home. Now I was getting homesick. I guess there is a first for everything.

"Vicki!" Celeste shouted, causing me to jump.

"What? Where's the fire?" I blurted out. Celeste pointed simply to my hand.

"Where did you get that?" she asked. I looked at my hand. I was playing with the lock.

"I stole it from Shinra," I sighed.

"Look at the back of it," PJ ordered. I rolled my eyes and complied. My eyes were very wide at the new insignia on the back. It was from STARS. That was a Resident Evil thing, not Final Fantasy. Now not even creepy could cut it. This was just scary. Of course, something clicked in my head.

"Wait, if this was at Shinra, does that mean the cast of Resident Evil is here?" I asked excitedly.

"No. It's probably just you," PJ responded.

"Well, Hojo is insane. He could very well team up with Wesker and recreate the t-virus. Or G. That's actually kind of scary. But still…" I was already off into my own little world. I loved puzzles like this most of the time. I was brought out by a slap to the back of my head and a kick to my shin.

"Yuffie!" Tifa cried. I gave the ninja a long glare. Celeste received a quick kick.

"Ow!" I brought my legs onto the seat before she could kick me back. I flinched in pain. Unconsciously, I pulled out a pen and a napkin and started writing what I was thinking on it.

'Lower Back + Pain =?' I thought, 'Wait, if Changing = Pain, then the equation should be Lower Back + Changing =? Also, since I also have Long Ears, that's a factor too. So it should be Lower Back + Long Ears + Changing =?... Wait a minute… Lower Back + Long Ears + Changing + Wind Control + Screech + Telepathy = … Oh Crap.' My napkin was snatched from me. Celeste and Yuffie were staring at it. Celeste went pale. That just confirmed it.

"Tifa, do you have a sewing kit lying around? And where's the shower?" I asked, a little more high-pitched than normal.

"Yeah, it's the last door on the right in the kitchen. There's a safety kit in the cabinet. Is there a problem," she responded.

"I need to make some modifications to my clothes. And I need the shower. There's going to be blood. Lots of it. Possibly screaming. I suggest staying away for a while. I'll make do with what I got to work with," I whimpered. The pain was getting stronger. I crawled out of the booth and bolted for the bathroom. I pulled off my jacket and shirt.

"A hundred and one uses, right?" I muttered. I began cutting two even slits in the back of both garments with my knife. The pain was increasing quickly, spreading up my back.

"Shit. Already?" I thought out loud. Suddenly, the pain became unbearable.

I came out of the shower what felt like days later. I was pale as a ghost, weak, but the wounds had fortunately crusted over by now. Celeste was there to help me move. Everyone else's jaws dropped. White feathered wings drooped down from my back, topped by a layer of brown fur. A long silver wolf-like tail hung from my lower back. I couldn't care less of what they were saying at this point. Everything hurt. A lot. Celeste and Vincent carried my weak body back up stairs to lie down. I couldn't sleep once I got there. All I could focus on was the future.

'Now what do we do? I can't control my powers, I hurt everywhere, I have no idea how Celeste is doing, and on top of that, PJ is just plainly weird. How do we go? Can we even _get_ home? Should we even _go_ home? I mean, this entire thing is insane. I want to go home, but how do I explain this? Hey Mom! Hi Dad! 'Sup Alex! Guess what? I just found out that I'm not even the same race as you! Crazy, huh? I can fly, read your mind, cut people with the _freaking wind_, spit acid, screech so loud that you drop, and I look like a _freak of nature_! Yeah, that's really something you want to tell your family… Ugh… F me… or my life. Take your pick.' I grumbled. This wasn't what I was hoping for when I kept that materia. Something clicked.

'Hey, where is that thing anyways. I know I had it with me.' I searched my bed. I found it still under my pillow. It was glowing a little.

"Hm?" I picked it up it glowed brighter. I inspected the crystal again. Something about it made me feel kind of calm. Flames seemed to burn inside it.

"I wonder what summon you are…?" I whispered. I fell asleep soon after.

_I heard Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata being played on a piano. It was calm, the only noise. My eyes opened to see that I was in front of a piano. The song continued to play wondrously. The reverb of the room complimented the piano. I could not see the person playing the large instrument. All I could see was long, brown hair and a pale skin tone. The rest of the person was blurred beyond comprehension. The closer I moved, the further away the person seemed. This went on until I couldn't see that person all together. I could still hear the music as if I was right next to the piano. I could hear blasts, moaning, flames, slicing, and screaming now too. There was a lot of noise, all to that song. I covered my ears. This was a disgrace to the song. A howl pierced through the noise. All went silent. A wolfish creature walked up to me. Its body was silver, with brown highlights on its face. Its green eyes seemed to pierce souls. The enormous wings it carried on its back were exactly like mine._

"_Do not fear the past or the future, little kit. Fear the present, and learn to control the fire you found," it said before disappearing in a breath of wind. Flames burst forth out of the ground. I could feel the heat against my skin. Something rose from the flames, but I couldn't quite make it out. All I could see was red._

I woke up with a jolt. I was sweaty and breathing heavily, but I felt no heat. I was my normal colour again. That was good. The sonata played in my head again, this time on an acoustic guitar. I put my hand to my head as I remembered my dream.

'Who was that person? Why the Moonlight Sonata? And those noises… And him. He's real? Or was that a hallucination? And the creature of fire… wait a second…' I heard a bird cry. It was familiar to me. It was like I had heard it before. Then I remembered. The materia glowed when I said the name.

"Phoenix…?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Phoenix" I heard a mumble from in the room Vicki and I were staying in and looked at P.J. When I walked in I saw Vicki sitting on the bed holding the materia that started this whole mess.

"Is that Reno's phoenix summon?" I mused coming in and sitting on my bed.

"Yeah." Was all she said.

"Vicki have you been okay? I've been sensing this weird aura around you since this morning; do you need someone to talk to?" I asked looking from her to P.J. who was standing by the doorway.

"I'll be okay." She blandly replied.

"Is it about your transformation, I understand if it's that."

"How can you understand? I'm not human! I'm a bestial elf! How could you possibly understand what's going on!" She obviously was trying not to raise her voice. I just stared at her as it looked like she was about to cry. Then I walked over to her and hugged her. She tensed at first and I thought she was going to push me away, then she hugged me back and we sat there while she let it out.

"Should I even go back?" She whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"I'm not even human, what will my family think?"

They'll obviously accept you as you are, I mean what kinda family wouldn't?" I hugged her tighter. "And even if they don't you know I will."

I saw from the corner of my eye that she looked really relaxed so I loosened my grip and grinned at her. "I feel like drawing." I said randomly. To which Vicki smiled more.

-Knock knock-

"Hey lemme in It's Yuffie!"

P.J. walked over to it and we all saw Yuffie with a look that looked like she was in trouble from something.

"What is it?" P.J. obviously didn't want to lose his top again.

"Well funny thing is I forgot to tell you I went to your world to pick up some stuff P.J. told me to get." She said in a high pitch tone.

"How did you get to our world Yuffie?" Vicki asked in a strict tone.

"Well...ah...you see..." She mumbled

"You used Cid's gummi ship?" I could tell Vicki was only pretending to make it a question, it was obviously a statement.

"Wha-? How?" Yuffie stood agape

"Didn't Tifa tell you? I'm a telepath." Vicki explained

"Anyway..." I interrupted "What did you get?"

"Oh! Just some stuff." She stated as she began pulling stuff outta her little pack and into a HUGE pile on the floor.

The second she pulled out my sketchbook I grabbed it and realized it was all stuff that Vicki and I own.

"If we were able to go, why didn't we just go get our stuff?" I asked picking up my part of the pile and packing it into my little bag.

"Well you see..."Yuffie trailed off and when I looked at Vicki to see if she had read her mind I froze. Vicki was pale and looked like a porcelain doll about to break. Then it clicked. "No. It can't be. Don't say it's true." I was worried if my suspicions were right.

"Everyone. Is. Dead." Vicki whispered but I could still hear it.

"Why didn't you save them P.J? They're our family!" I was trying hard not to scream.

"Correction. Only you had blood relations. I was there to get you two." He answered coolly. I made my blood boil.

"So you're saying that they didn't matter to you?"I growled low.

P.J. seemed to realize what he had said. "Originally they weren't. My original plan was just to get you two, somehow my plans didn't go that exact way, and I ended up pretending to be your pet dog for four years. In that time I created bonds with humans and was careful not to bond with animals."

"Why not animals?" My anger just suddenly disappeared for the time being because I always just thought he avoided animals because he was a chicken shit.

"Because animals could sense I wasn't one of them and their automatic reaction was to attack. And I couldn't really attack in that form, could I?"

"Guess not." The thought of my home came back and I was just depressed.

"Anyway I see you got your stuff." P.J. said walking towards Yuffie. I looked towards Vicki and saw that she had already picked everything up.

"What are we gunna do now?" I asked just starting to realize he had a plan for us all along.

"Well, soon you'll find out." P.j. had a cocky grin on his face that strangely seemed to suit him.

"P.J! There here! The heartless are here!" Tifa yelled from what sounded like the bar.

"Apparently very soon." P.j. sighed as he ran out.

"Follow me to Cid's gummi ship, there should be enough room for all of us if Cid finished the modifications." P.J. said running out with Yuffie behind him.

"Let's go." I said unsure of myself as Vicki and I ran out.


	7. Chapter 7

We ran down the stairs quickly. I felt so unbalanced, that even running on all fours sounded like a good idea. Tifa was surprisingly struggling with the heartless. I hurtled myself down into a fairly large heartless and bit hard into its neck. Thanks to my new fangs, I actually damaged it. It let out a pretty pathetic scream as it disappeared. I attacked another with my switch blade. Celeste was beginning to go crazy again, in the literal sense. I guess heartless souls are bad for her. Some of them started screaming in pain right away. I made a mental note to ask Celeste about it later. PJ had a gun that appeared out of nowhere. A lot of them fell just as quickly as the bullets were shot. I jumped behind the bar and found a lighter. A few cheep bottles of booze and pieces of cloth later, I had enough Molotov Cocktails to take on all of Fairfield. All I needed now was a pair of pistols and you could practically call me The Akimbo Assassin.

"Run like hell!" I yelled above the commotion. It only took a couple minutes to get out of the bar. The heartless seemed to follow us. Outside of the bar was no better than inside, except for the fact that Tifa had no alcoholic drinks to worry about.

"Hey! PJ! Why are they following us?" Celeste yelled.

"I'll tell you later! It's not important right now!" PJ yelled back. All the clothing I was wearing was slowing me down to the point that I couldn't keep up. Tifa and Vincent were behind with me, keeping the heartless off of me.

"Screw it! I need to learn some time!" I screamed. Tifa got a short look at me before my wings spread to their full length. In a couple minutes of flapping, I took off from the ground.

"I knew these wings were good for something other than show!" I laughed, gliding above Celeste. It was about then that Tifa noticed I had a bottle of her cheapest booze in my hand. Actually, I wonder how she _didn't_ notice sooner. Maybe she didn't think I'd make Molotovs out of her booze.

"Fire in the hole!" I yelled, throwing the lit bottle behind me.

"You better be paying for that!" Tifa shouted. I just grinned as multiple heartless burst into flame. As it turns out, the heartless are about as smart as zombies. I was laughing really hard because they kept running into the flame.

I noticed that we were headed for Sector 6. I tried to think of a plausible place to work on a gummi ship in the secrecy that Cid might need.

"The church? Maybe… mind you, it's not that secret. Oh well. Guess we'll find out soon enough," I muttered. I dive bombed into a crowd of heartless, knocking them ten feet into the air. I brought a regular shadow heartless up with me and used it as a bowling ball to clear some path for Yuffie.

"Strike!" she yelled happily, to which most of the group laughed. Celeste seemed to have been painting wounds on herself with her finger. This created a chain reaction of heartless falling dead quickly. It was weird. I had to ask about her powers now.

Surprisingly, within a few wing beats, we were in front of the Sector 6. That just put a bad taste in my mouth. Tifa pounded the doors open. Destruction and chaos poured back and forth from each side. Bullets flew by my ears. I flew ahead, dropping another Molotov into a mass of heartless. I was fortunate enough to be able to pick out the humans from the heartless. I also noticed the incredible aim and luck I was having. Celeste and PJ were now double teaming the heartless. It appeared as though Tifa and Vincent had decided to redirect the traffic flow to the train. Yuffie had gotten higher ground and was making better time. PJ had done the same, but on the other side. The heartless began to swarm more now. I swooped down and picked up Celeste.

"_Ow_! My shoulders!" she cried.

"Quit complaining! You're too heavy for me! Keep doing whatever the hell you were doing!" I barked.

The crowd was slowly turning into just heartless. I spit at the ground quickly. I noted the consistency and colour. It was acid. All of my powers must have awoken during the change. Better then than now. The acid splashed into the heartless and seemed to multiply. Now was the point where I wished for Water Song, a Chinese sword of the same name normally pictured with Miu. The blade would have been very useful here. The wind picked up and slashed a decent amount of heartless about to attack me. I soon noticed the Sector 5 doors.

"Celeste! Cover your ears!" I growled.

"Why? What are you going to do?" she shouted.

"Just do it!" I ordered. She grumbled as she complied. I inhaled and let out the loudest screech I could manage. The air itself seemed to turn into a drill as it pierced the thick metal doors. I flew through the falling debris into what seemed to be a peaceful Sector 5. But instinct told me not to relax. The heartless were still following us. I put Celeste onto the ground and screeched again, this time towards the heartless. A lot of them dropped and disappeared. The rest however, crawled over bodies and debris towards us. Celeste was already running. I ascended into the air again and sped to the church.

'I was right? Oh wow…' I thought. The inside of the church had been modified to accommodate Cid's needs. There was a trap door leading to his workshop under a statue. I noticed the LOVELESS reference right away. The statue resembled a girl, supposedly the one of the characters, who also looked vaguely like Aerith.

'Did Genesis rebuild the church?' I commented. With the press of a button, we gained access to the "Down Below". Down Below was a _huge_ gummi ship hangar. There were at least five gummi ships in it. A wrench flew decked Yuffie in the forehead.

"Owowowowow! _Cid_! That hurt!" she screamed, flopping onto the floor.

"I told you that would happen if you stole one of my ships!" he yelled, coming out from behind a gummi ship.

"Stop fighting you two! We have priorities!" PJ ordered. Cid blinked quickly with a confused expression. He looked Celeste and I over.

"It was these kids you were looking for?" he asked, pointing at us.

"For your information, Cid Highwind, _I_ am an adult. I may be young, but I can kick your ass left, right and center, so shut up and drink your goddamn tea." I growled ferociously. I could feel the stares on me. I puffed out my chest and straitened my posture to show that I meant what I said. One of my wings twitched. The silence was only awkward for onlookers. After a short while, Cid straitened and smiled. He laughed loudly as he walked up to us.

"I like you already!" he laughed, giving me a sound pat on the shoulder. I was probably just as confused as everyone else in the room. He looked at my Molotovs.

"Tch tch tch. What a waste of good booze," he snickered.

"But it's Tifa's cheapest stuff!" I retorted.

"That doesn't make it any less good," he chuckled. A bad Left 4 Dead reference floated in my mind. I wisely chose to ignore it.

A loud crash sounded from above.

"There's always a boss fight… always…" I grumbled, grabbing the back of Celeste's shirt. At the moment, I was thinking in RPG mode, meaning that I knew I was going to have to fight the "boss" above one way or another. Too many video games does that to you. Especially when they are mostly RPGs. I ignored Celeste's complaining as I proceeded upwards. I think she was yelling that I was crazy, or something to the same effect.

We got outside and saw the one thing I really did not want to see again. Ever. Proud Clod stood before us, possessed somehow by heartless. It slammed one of its four hands down to crush us. Unimpressed, I dodged quickly, throwing Celeste the other way

"Celeste! Use whatever your strongest attack is!" I yelled, dodging a stream of fire.

"You don't know what that is?" she screamed, running on the other side.

"I don't even know what your powers are! But now's not the time for arguing, is it?" I shouted. I took off in flight. A small shock of lighting hit me. I smacked the machine right away. It shook slightly. I grabbed a Yellow Opera heartless and threw it into the machine.

"Celeste! Use this!" PJ yelled. I saw a broad sword fly towards Celeste. She caught it and slashed at the possessed machine. PJ was focused on getting rid of the surrounding heartless.

"Time to do what I now do best," I mused. I flew higher onto the back of the machine. I pulled out my switch blade and loosened some screws. I was just hoping that it was what I wanted it to be. Bingo.

"Look at all of this circuitry!" I exclaimed. Wires ran all over the place, reminding me of an extra large bowl of colourful spaghetti. A Shadow heartless jumped out at me, causing me to fall back. But I didn't fall far, or as far as I thought I would. Celeste had caught my arm.

"What the hell Vicki? You're not going to die on me too, are you?" she growled. I looked up at her slowly.

"Hell no! He just caught me by surprise, is all!" I displayed my best Yuffie-like grin and crawled back up, putting my knife back into my pocket.

"Then help me out! Where's the front?"

"Let me fly you over there. It'll be easier." She nodded. I grabbed her around the stomach and jumped. I used the wind and momentum to glide us over to the front. She entered the cockpit. Inside were two types of heartless, a Defender and a Wizard. Celeste slammed her sword into the Wizard heartless and then into the shield of the Defender heartless. With grace, her sword seemed to dance right through the Defender. They both disappeared as she jumped out.

We thought that the machine was done for. But it continued to attack. Fortunately, the attacks were no longer coordinated. I caught Celeste and put her on the ground.

"Damn it! Keep it busy!" I demanded.

"What are you going to do!" she yelled as I took off.

"Learning to control fire!" I yelled back.

"What?" I knew she wouldn't understand. It was because I hadn't told her about my dream. I made a note to tell her later. I pulled out the phoenix materia and shoved it into my arm. It stung. Fire seemed to flow through me. I aimed my arm at the open wires once I reached the machine's back.

"I summon you, Phoenix! Burn down my enemies and heal my allies! _Phoenix_!" I declared. My arm glowed red and a shot of red fire burst forth. It went right through the Proud Clod, taking on the shape of a bird. It spread its wings and burnt down all of the heartless with a rain of fire, even the ones that were resistant to fire-elemental attacks. I began to drop, out of any form of energy. Phoenix caught me and placed me on the ground as the Proud Clod fell away from the church. It screeched and healed Celeste and PJ before disappearing back into my arm.

"Vicki! Are you okay?" Celeste screamed.

"Man, I'm stupid. Phoenix was too much for me to handle. Maybe I should learn how the leveling system works, wander around and level up," I chuckled. After that, everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

I heard the loud crash and knew what was happening. Beside me I heard Vicki grumble and knew what was going to happen next. So as Vicki proceeded to go up I reluctantly followed saying how crazy and stupid this was seeing as we were both becoming exhausted.

When we got to the top, I saw something I really didn't want to see right now. Our first boss we had to face would be Proud Clod possessed by heartless, which meant soul sucking would be out of the question. I sighed despite myself, because I really didn't feel like fighting the stupid thing. Sadly I failed to notice it throwing one of its four hands down, so Vicki threw me away from it. That got me paying attention.

"Celeste! Use whatever your strongest attack is!" Vicki screamed, dodging a stream of fire.

"You don't even know what it is!" I screamed back, how could she not? I thought she'd find it out before me.

"I don't even know what your powers are! But now's not the time for arguing, is it?" She screamed back. As she flew up a yellow opera shocked her, but the way she grabbed it and threw it at the machine, it didn't bug her much.

"Celeste! Use this!" PJ yelled. I turned just in time to grab a broad sword before it hit my gut. 'Nice warning.' I thought, as I sliced at the machine. P.J. had already gone to get rid of surrounding heartless. I looked towards Vicki and saw her fly on top of the machine and start using the switchblade to open the circuitry panel.

"Ass, I wanted to do that." I grumbled, gracefully cutting through its hand and jumping up towards Vicki who looked dumbstruck looking at the circuitry. Then suddenly, a shadow heartless jumped up from behind and knocked her off balance. I quickly traced across my neck and the shadow was decapitated and disappeared as I grabbed Vicki's arm.

"What the hell Vicki? You're not going to die on me too, are you?" I growled. She looked up at me slowly.

"Hell no! He just caught me by surprise, is all!" She displayed her best Yuffie-like grin and crawled back up, putting her knife back into her pocket.

"Then help me out! Where's the front?" I smirked darkly.

"Let me fly you over there. It'll be easier." She suggested. I nodded and she grabbed my stomach and flew me too the cockpit. Inside were two types of heartless, a Defender and a Wizard. Quickly, I slammed my sword into the Wizard heartless and then into the shield of the Defender heartless. With grace, my sword seemed to dance right through the Defender. They both disappeared as I jumped out.

I thought the Proud Clod would stop now but I was wrong, and it continued to attack as Vicki showed up, grabbed me, and lowered me down.

"Damn it! Keep it busy!" She demanded.

"What are you going to do!" I yelled as she took off.

"Learning to control fire!" She yelled back.

"What?" She probably thought I didn't know she was talking about the phoenix, what I was worried about was her not being ready to summon it yet since it takes so much energy, energy I knew neither of us had.

"Keep it busy huh?" I mused to myself as I sat down and waited for the heartless to swarm me.

"Celeste! What are you doing?" P.J. yelled as the first shadow came within range. In an instant I hit it with my sword like a bat and it hit the Proud Clod dead on. The Proud Clod then turned its attention to me.

"Just what Vicki told me to do." I grinned, whacking another heartless at it.

"I summon you, Phoenix! Burn down my enemies and heal my allies! _Phoenix_!" I heard Vicki declare as her arm glowed red and fire burst forth. It went right through the Proud Clod, taking on the shape of a bird. It spread its wings and burnt down all of the heartless with a rain of fire, even the ones that were resistant to fire-elemental attacks. Vicki began to drop, but the phoenix caught her and placed her on the ground. The phoenix then screeched and healed all of us before returning to Vicki's arm.

"Vicki! Are you okay?" I screamed, racing towards her.

"Man, I'm stupid. Phoenix was too much for me to handle. Maybe I should learn how the levelling system works, wander around and level up," I heard her chuckle before she passed out.

"I knew it would be too much." I mumbled darkly as I picked her up and carried her back to Tifa and the others, P.J. silently following behind.

"Christ! What the hell happened to her!" Cid exclaimed.

"What I should be asking is why no one helped." I snapped glaring at him.

"We didn't think you'd go after it." Yuffie started

"And P.J. was there with you." Tifa finished.

"Anyway," P.j. interrupted "How are we moving all of the gummies? Cause some people here can't drive and we gotta make seating arrangements.

"Well I'm not leaving Vicki's side and I wanna go with P.J." I mumbled.

"Well, He's coming with me so I guess you're in Gummi one with us." Cid said walking towards one of them. "I'll leave you guys to solve your own damn problems. The sooner we get off the planet, the better." He finished as he entered a gummi.

Marlene and Denzel started running to the next one without waiting for any conformation. "Tifa and I will go on Gummi 2 with Denzel and Marlene." Barret sighed walking with Tifa towards the gummi.

"The Turks are coming." Cait Sith mumbled

"So let's leave one for them." I suggested "We don't want Reeves dying."

Everyone seemed to silently agree.

"Sorry we're late." Cloud came in followed by Red XIII, Aerith, and Shera.

"It's about time you slow asses!" Cid called from the gummi.

"We got held up." Shera half whispered.

"Anyway we'll all just go on a gummi together." Cloud said walking to the 4th gummi with Aerith and Shera.

"I guess we get the remaining one!" Yuffie announced bounding off towards the remaining Gummi, followed by Vincent, Red XIII, and Cait Sith

"Let's get going before Cid leaves without us." P.J. joked as I picked up Vicki and walked to the Gummi.

After we had taken off Vicki had finally woken up and I, being myself, had started playing 20 questions with poor Cid about how everything worked. Thankfully enough, he seemed more proud than annoyed with the questions, and effortlessly answered all the questions I threw at him.

"Hey P.J.?" I suddenly asked when I had enough information in my head about gummies to last a lifetime.

He looked up at me showing he was listening.

"What does your name really stand for?" I asked, and Cid started laughing.

"You haven't told the girl you've been living with for 4 years your real name _Pajashok._"

"Pajashok?" I repeated "That sounds so cool!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah." He mumbled

"We used to give him the nickname pass a shot." Cid said, he suddenly looked distant, probably remembering all the times he had called P.J. that.

"Yeah, fun times." P.J. grumbled.

"Does it have a meaning?" Vicki suddenly asked

"It means light wave." P.J. stated.

"Yeah he's a light weight alright." Cid started snickering. P.J. just grumbled.

I was later when P.J. sat down beside me I decided to find out what was all in my little pouch. As I took out a small packet I grinned smugly.

"Hey P.J." I whispered near his ear so Vicki and Cid wouldn't hear. "Do you still like dog treats?" I saw his face perk up. "I'll take that as a yes." I giggled as I opened the bag and handed him a couple treats. He took them and quickly munched on them. Causing me to giggle. Vicki looked behind and grinned, and Cid looked at snickered to himself. Then when he finished eating the treats, out of pure boredom I scratched his head behind his ears. He acted like he used to when he was a dog and leaned his head towards my hand. Then suddenly he started glowing and turned into his old dog form and fell asleep on my lap with his discarded clothes on the other seat. Then, I slowly fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

"Now slowly turn left," Cid chimed.

"Okay," I responded. It had been a couple hours since Celeste and PJ had gone to sleep. Cid decided that I needed to learn to drive a gummi ship, since Celeste knew its inner workings. Balance, I guess. Apparently, I was doing pretty well for my first try. I hadn't crashed yet, but maybe that's because we were going really slowly. I mean, a snail was probably faster. Okay, that's an exaggeration.

I could now finally see Radiant Gardens in front of me.

"Hey! Celeste! Wake up! You gotta see this!" I said, not even turning my head. I heard a moan and a gasp. PJ didn't react vocally.

"Pay attention! You have to land!" Cid scolded. I had the sudden feeling that I was his favorite or something to the same effect. I gently steered the ship down into the atmosphere. The way down was a little shaky, but that didn't seem to affect the landing by much.

"Woo! I did it!" I cheered as the ship opened up. I noted a few more laughs than what should have been there and instantly felt embarrassed. I pulled myself out of the ship and noticed right away that Yuffie's ship had landed before ours. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with said ninja hugging me.

"You made it! Urk!" she cried. Apparently, her motion sickness was still in effect. I never did understand that.

"H-hey! Don't get sick on me, Yuffie!" I stuttered, causing another series of laughs. It was about now that I noticed Nanaki and Cait Sith. I remembered that they hadn't been with us in the escape from Tifa's bar. I decided not to pay attention to the mechanics of the situation. Instead…

"Vincent! Help me!" I yelled flailing uselessly under Yuffie. More laughter. Fortunately, Vincent complied. I scrambled to my feet and brushed myself off. Celeste and Cid stood next to me as we gave our hellos. PJ must have been changing in the back.

Two more ships landed soundly next to ours.

'Wait, I was actually faster than someone?' I thought. Marlene and Denzel ran out first, tackling Yuffie right away. Barret came soon after, carrying Tifa in a comical manner. She wasn't impressed.

"I told you! I'm fine!" she complained. She had crossed her arms and everything. A bad smell wafted by my nose. She must have gotten sick from jumping into space. Or maybe she gets space sickness. I wouldn't know.

"Did you get sick again?" Cloud sighed. He took Tifa from Barret.

'So this has happened before… Oh, too much adrenaline makes you get sick during space jumps. I'll have to keep that in mind,' I thought. Of course, Aerith and Shera followed Cloud. Seeing Aerith made me want to do something very Yuffie-like. Of course, appropriate warning should be given, but considering Sephiroth…

"_Aerith_!" I shouted, tackling the Cetra. The surprise on her face was _so_ amusing.

"W-well hello there!" she laughed. I guess she figured something out about why I just tackle hugged her. Obviously, there was a hint of jealousy in the air, but it was quickly brushed off when the jealous ones discussed the possibility of me knowing all of the events of Final Fantasy VII. Celeste however, was annoyed with me. I actually hadn't realized that my tail was wagging furiously. It wasn't until Aerith thought about it being cute that I pulled away in a blush. I mean, come on! I'm a fangirl! What did you expect me to do?

Somewhere in the universe…

"Aw, COME ON! I _JUST_ FIXED THIS THING!" a worker shouts as the fourth wall finally breaks for the one millionth time.

Aerith detected the embarrassment. She patted my shoulder.

"Come on. We should all get inside," she giggled. I silently thanked her for the timing. We all went inside the Radiant Gardens, and boy, was it radiant. Since the events of Kingdom Hearts II, I guess they really fixed up the place. That and you can tell Aerith had helped in restoring it. There were flowers everywhere. Not that I minded, it's just that she might have gone just a tiny bit over board.

Yuffie lead us to Leon's headquarters. I was surprised to find put that he had relocated to the castle. While I was looking around, something smacked into my head and stomach. I picked up the tiny creature.

"Hey! Put me down!" it cried.

"Rikku? Aren't you cute?" I snickered.

"Let me go!" she squeaked. She didn't feel confused like anyone else when I mentioned her name. That made me wonder how she knew that I knew it.

"Then I'd like my lock back. It's important to me," I replied with a sneer. Paine dropped it into my pocket as I let Rikku go. I laughed slightly. Yuna gave me a tap on the head.

"Hey, it's a fair exchange, Yu-... Wait… weren't you a pixie…?" I said. My confused expression caused all three Gullwings to let out some form of laughter. My cheeks felt a little hot at that moment. Yuna, unlike Rikku and Paine, was full sized and back to her original Final Fantasy X-2 outfit. I had nothing to say about it. At a complete loss of words, I just stared until she gave me another tap, to which I shook my head slightly.

"H-how did you…?" I stuttered.

"We d-don't know," Rikku mimicked. My face went redder in response. I looked around, just noticing that it was the four of us.

"Uh, you guys wouldn't happen to know where the others went, do you?" I asked. I was lost now.

"You're going to see Leon, right?" Paine spoke. Something about her gave me chills. I nodded.

"We can take you to him. Try not to wander off," Yuna giggled. She had me completely figured out.

'Yeah. Kinda creepy there, Yuna. At least I know how now,' I thought as we left for the meeting room.

"So what is that lock for, anyways? It doesn't look like anything special…" Rikku asked out of nowhere. The entire time we were walking, we had been playing twenty-questions, with all questions directed to me. I sighed.

"I don't know. But I feel like there's something _I_ need to do with it, I just don't know it yet. It's great for practicing lock picking though," I explained. This was about the third question related to the lock. The first one was what S.T.A.R.S. meant. The second, why was it on the lock. Now this. I really didn't like where this was headed.

"You pick locks?" Yuna asked. As innocent as the question was, I could tell this was giving all three of them ideas. Bad ideas.

"Yes. I'm not very good at it yet, but I can still do it. Also, no, I will not open Leon's chest for you. It's locked for a reason," I said blandly, "And before you ask, Rikku, I read your mind. I'm a latent telepath, which means I got the ability to read minds recently."

For a couple minutes, there was silence. I enjoyed it while I could, but it suddenly got awkward.

"Also, in case you are wondering, I had the power shut off while you were asking questions. I also only heard about that because you shouted it in your mind, Rikku. But still, I only learned to pick locks for escaping reasons. Never know when it'll come in handy," I sighed. The awkwardness lifted. Another sigh escaped my lips, coincidentally at the same time as the Gullwings. This caused me and Yuna to look at each other and burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Celeste asked. I nearly hit the ceiling.

"Celeste! Don't scare me like that!" I shouted holding my chest as I turned around.

"Sorry, I'll make more noise next time," she joked. I felt my face turn from fear to sadness right away. That was a line my dad used on me all the time. Knowing that he was dead made the joke almost like a curse. I looked down at the floor.

"Vicki, are you alright?" Celeste and Yuna asked. Yuna's hands fell softly on my shoulders.

"Heh. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad memory, that's all!" I half-lied. I lifted my head with fake smile splashed across my face. I really didn't want anyone worrying about me and my emotions. This was a bad time for a breakdown anyways.

"Let's catch up to the others now."


	10. Chapter 10

We walked up to where everyone was waiting, and giggled when I heard Vicki gasp at the people waiting for us. People from many final fantasies were there waiting for us, from Locke from FF VI to snow from FFXIII. I walked up and started introducing everyone.

"This is Locke." I introduced 'be careful of your belongings, he's a little thief.' I thought and saw her nod in understanding as I went down the line of people. Even though it wasn't necessary since we knew them, but they didn't know that.

"And this is Lightning." I finished pointing to a girl from FF XIII.

"We should get inside and discuss what you're here for now." Snow said walking towards the castle.

Everyone was seated or standing around a large table in one of the many large rooms of the castle.

"Let's start explaining." P.J. Said. He then took a breath and looked at us. "You weren't from Earth, you aren't even human." He bluntly said looking me in the eye to see my reaction. I just stared.

"Then what are we?" Vicki half mumbled.

"You are a bestial elf." Leon spoke up looking at her.

"That's something I made up though." Vicki protested.

"Not exactly, your mind knew subconsciously what you were and created a story that sounded right to it to explain it." Irvine said looking up from his seat at the table.

"Well, what about me?" I was half excited; half scared out of my life.

"You're a death angel." Genesis spoke up.

"Adda-wha?" not the smartest thing I could have said at that moment. "Did my subconscious do the same thing hers did?" I finally formed words.

"Technically yes." Rufus spoke up.

"Holy crap! when did you guys arrive!" I blurted as the Turks came in.

"Just recently." Tseng replied walking in.

"You're late." Auron stated his visible eye narrowed.

"Well we got held up." Elena sighed.

"Anyway." Cloud interrupted. "We gathered information about what Vicki is at least, and found out her species knew about yours, but that's all we could find for now." He said walking towards us. "Vincent will take you to the library to read the data we have on your species if you want Vicki." He offered motioning for Vincent to come over.

I watched Vicki walk away and went out the other way. "The only thing they know is Vicki's species knows me. I don't even know what I am." I mumbled walking down a random hallway. "Why me? Why did this happen to me!" I raised my voice and slammed my fist into the wall. To my surprise I dented the wall. I scoffed and shook my head as I tried to cool myself down, and concentrated on my now bleeding hand. "Would I have healing like a death angel too?" I mused concentrating on my bloody hand and watched in amazement as the wound started closing. I licked the blood of and tried to think straight. "If I'm a death angel then..." I lost my train of thought as I felt someone behind me.

"Locke if you try to steal something I swear I'll kill you." I growled turning around. To my surprise, it was Yuffie and Rikku were behind me.

"Well, I guess you could try to mug me too." I mumbled. To me, the two together were probably worse than Locke.

"Aw don't be like that Zesty..." Yuffie's nickname made me flinch as I remembered my life, that didn't seem like mine anymore. "We just wanted to see if you were okay, seeing as you left so suddenly." She said her voice full of concern.

"I guess I will be. But one thing, how did we end up in our 'families' if they weren't our real ones?"

"Simple." Rikku replied. "We made your parents _think_ they were having you. And put you in your mom's arms when she thought you were born." The term mom seemed just alien now. I was just slightly disturbed from that.

"Hey look a ribbon!" Yuffie suddenly pointed out looking at a white ribbon on the floor that wasn't moving normally. It was almost as if it was calling me.

As I slowly walked over to it a black one appeared beside it. Then I remembered about my favorite weapons I used to draw. I instinctively grabbed the two ribbons with each hand then they wrapped around my arms and doubled. Then, the four ribbons acted as if they were forming around two invisible rods, and out the top of each one appeared the blade of a scythe; one black and one white.

"Where did those come from?" Rikku exclaimed taken back from the random scythes.

"They're my dual scythes." I muttered darkly as more memory flooded my mind. I let the scythes go and they disappeared, leaving two ribbons on each hand that well reached the floor and started dragging. "Let's go see what Vicki's up to!" I randomly chirped walking away, hoping that I wouldn't be attacked with questions. I wanted to tell Vicki what happened first.

While I was walking Yuffie and Rikku had randomly started walking in another direction so I was by myself again. Without thinking I reached into my pocket and pulled out the first thing I grabbed. I looked at the gold necklace in my hand and frowned. I was the one that my dad had that he gave me. Sighing I put it on. "Today just isn't my day." I mumbled as I walked into the library to join Vicki.


	11. Chapter 11

I flipped another page in the overly large book. The Moonlight Sonata was playing in the background. That dream I had was bothering me. I had written it down earlier. Now that I had recorded it, I was going to see the first person who could interpret the first part for me, after my research. I never liked researching, especially about history. But I cared about this one.

"Amazing…" I whispered when I heard the door fly open. I jumped. Looking at the door, I saw that it was Celeste.

"Try not to slam the door. I'm trying to focus, and you know that's harder for me when there are loud noises," I grumbled, turning back to the book.

"Well sorry!" she snickered, "Wha'cha got there?"

"The origins of my race. It appears that my race is an experimental race, just like I wrote, although this actually goes into really deep detail. Where'd you get the ribbons and off my shoulder."

"Sounds boring. I found them." She retreated to the other side of the table.

"Actually, as it turns out, the death angels helped out the Fleurians in creating my race. In the case given, if it wasn't for your race, I wouldn't be here. The irony is, I'm only considered a race because everyone forgot about the experiments."

"Fascinating."

"If you're so disinterested, why don't you help me find the kitchen? I crave a good drink."

"Like what?" Such an innocent question.

"You'll see."

I got up from the warm chair and walked around in the hall. I was actually using this as a form of training. My senses needed to be better. Shutting out the Loveless reference, I walked aimlessly until a caught the scent of food. I followed it, sniffing every now and then. I think it freaked out Celeste a bit, not that I cared. In fact, scaring her just a little was one of my favorite things to do. It brought a sense of normality back. While I reminisced about the days when the only thing I had to worry about was getting a job, Celeste and I wandered into the kitchen. Unconsciously, I found my way to the fridge and opened it. I grabbed a beer and sat down at the table. When I snapped back to reality, I realized exactly which kind of beer I had grabbed. It was a bottle of Sleemans. I cursed under my breath and opened it, swiftly taking a small drink.

"Just like I remember," I sighed as Cid and Snow walked in.

"Hey, aren't you a bit young to be drinking that?" Snow asked.

"I'm an adult. This is perfectly legal, and it reminds me of home. So sit down and drink your damned tea," I growled.

"Never get in between someone and their drink," Cid laughed. Snow groaned at the joke.

"Then what about her?" he asked, pointing at Celeste. I looked at her and nearly spilt the beer.

"Celeste! You're not supposed to drink that!" I exclaimed as she grinned at me, a small bottle of vodka in hand.

"Aw, come on! It's just one drink!" Cid laughed.

"But that's vodka!" I yelled as Celeste chugged it. Too late now.

'This water tastes funny' I read her mind, and my face went grinned as it started to affect her right away.

"Cid! You ish mah bestest friend now!" she hiccupped. The slurring already started. She was smashed.

"Hey, what about me?" I asked.

"You wouldn't even lemme drink teh dang wata!" she replied. She started to walk away in a huff, but tripped over her own two feet.  
"And that's why. Also, you don't chug vodka. You take it in shots," I sighed. I walked over to her, holding the beer with my tail. I picked her up and sighed again. She was already out.

"Only one drink, right Cid?" I growled. He seemed to shrink in his seat a bit. Snow chuckled at him.

I carried Celeste to the first bed I could find and left her a glass of water. I finished my beer and threw the bottle into the recycling on my way back to the library. After grabbing a random book that had been on the table, I walked back upstairs. I sat next to Celeste calmly.

"From Fleur to Terra," I read out loud, "Interesting."

I read about half of the thick book by the time Celeste woke up. She groaned.

"Head hurt?" she nodded.

"Good. Maybe you won't chug next time. There's a reason for the age limit." She just groaned.

"Drink the water. It'll help. I'm going to wander." I left the book on my chair and left the room.

After a long while, I found a room with a small pool of water.

"Kung Fu Panda much?" I mused as I walked in. In the middle of the pool, there was a Chinese style altar. Actually, it looked like a small temple. I walked up to the pool and step on the water. I noticed right away that it actually was water that I was standing on, not solid ground. The water rippled lightly as I inched closer.

"Heh heh. This is actually fun," I giggled. I opened the doors and found the last thing I thought I would see inside.

"Water Song…" I gasped. I pulled it out of the altar slowly. Stepping away from the water, I pulled the sword out of its sheath quickly. I placed the sheath on the ground softly. I put my feet into a fighting stance, as if I were an expert. I mocked some slashing moves, shouting my kiai as I went through the stronger ones.

"You're pretty good, for a beginner." I jumped and almost dropped the sword.

"T-Tidus!" I turned to the door and saw the blitzball star leaning in the doorway.

"Don't sound so shocked," he snickered. Yuna spun out from behind him.

"Uh, uh… If I'm not supposed to touch it, then I'll put it back!" I said, quickly scrambling for the sheath.

"No. It's alright. Leon told us to go find you and tell you that it's yours," Yuna giggled, causing a blush from me. I picked up the sheath and tied it to my side.

"If you need any training, come find us," Tidus laughed. I must have looked pretty ridiculous.

"Okay. I will," I mumbled. They both patted me on the shoulder. Yuna was soon pushing me out the door.

"H-hey!" I stuttered.  
"Go show Celeste!" she giggled, "And come back to the meeting room when you're done. We have some more things for you two!" With that, I ran off to Celeste's room.

"Celeste!"

I burst into the room. Celeste groaned.

"Oops. Sorry," I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Whad'ya want?" she moaned.

"First, this." I held my sword out for her to see.

"It's a sword."

"It's not just any sword! It's Water Song!"

"No way!" she sat up quickly and recoiled. "Bad idea…"

"Yeah, so that's item number one. Number two, us in the meeting room, now. Courtesy of Tidus and Yuna pushing me." Suddenly, the ribbons around Celeste's arms formed a pair of scythes.

"Yee! How'd you..? You know what, never mind. Put those away, get your butt in gear now, and drink that water." Celeste mocked me as I spoke. I just rolled my eyes and waited.

Once she was ready, I dragged her through the halls, following Yuna's scent. It was amazing how useful that was already. Once we got to the room, we found a few guns on the table. I grinned widely.

"These for us?" I asked. In truth, I already knew they were for us. Telepathy for the win. When Leon nodded, my grin increased in size. I let Celeste choose first. With some, minor guidance, she chose a Desert Eagle with a silencer, a Berretta 92f Custom "Samurai Edge", and a Heckler & Koch PSG-1. She eyed one gun in particular which was keeping my grin on my face. It was a Thompson M1A1 "Chicago Typewriter", and the references to Resident Evil 4 was what appealed to me.

"Go for it," I chuckled as she swiped the gun off the table. I chose my guns with what appealed to me the most. A Smith & Wesson M39 Mk. 22 "Hush Puppy" Tranquilizer gun lay on the table. I grabbed that one right away, knowing how much less fighting I would do with that in my possession. I also took a Ruger Mini-14 Hunting Rifle, a Samurai Edge, and a Benelli M4 Super 90 semi-automatic shotgun. It surprised me that they had the Samurai Edge here for us. What surprised me more was the fact that the guns were each given their own design. Mine had falling cherry blossom petals. I couldn't get a get a good look at Celeste's. She was too busy playing with it. I check each of my guns for ammunition. I fortunate to know that there was plenty already.

"Fully loaded. Nice," I commented mostly to myself. I think I scared some people in the room.

I put the guns into my bag. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice.

"Excuse me for a sec. I need to take care of something," I growled. I made sure to leave the room before anyone could stop me. My hunter instinct was turned on right away. After rounding a few corners, I found my target. I must have radiated anger, because he bolted the other way immediately.

"_Reno! Get the hell back here!_" I roared. I chased him on all fours and actually caught up to him pretty quickly.

"_You bastard!_" I yelled as I pounced on his back. Right away, I started beating him with my fists and claws. Someone caught my arms.

"That's enough, Victoria," PJ growled. I turned to him with my darkest expression.

"_Never, ever, call me that again_," I hissed. Unknown to me, my claws actually extended at that point.

"Back down," he growled. He grabbed Reno's wrist and helped the maimed Turk up. "It was _my_ idea to send the Turks. Reno was just being himself and following orders." I growled at Reno slightly.

"Fine. But if he hurts Celeste again, I will maim him again," I snarled. Reno seemed to shrink back a bit. PJ just sighed as I turned around to go back into the meeting room. It still seemed like there was something else to be said there.


	12. Chapter 12

"Poor Reno, Vicki can really deal some damage when she wants to." I mumbled as she ran out.

"I'll go get her." P.J. sighed as he left the room.

"You bastard." I flinched as I heard a thud from further away, either the walls echo really good, which would mean everyone had heard me when I dented the wall, or my hearing is as good as my dad's...not even my dad. I casted my eyes downward and looked at the design on my gun, it was a little skull surrounded by barbed wire, with a little wing coming out the side. I traced it half-heartedly, then suddenly looked up when I felt a really dark aura approaching. As the dark aura approached I saw it was none other than my angry friend who went to pulverize poor Reno. Behind her I saw P.J. supporting Reno as they entered. Poor Reno looked worse than a beaten dog.

"You didn't have to try to break every bone in his body." I mumbled. She gave me a death glare, and I could tell now that it wasn't only Reno that pissed her off.

"What did you do now pup?" I looked at P.J. who suddenly let go of Reno and grabbed my shoulder roughly.

"Don't call me that." He ordered. "And I called Vicki by her real name." I shook my head.

"How dumb can you get?" I murmured. He looked at me darkly as he walked away. 'The dark aura is really contagious.' I thought to myself.

"Dark aura Celeste?" Vicki was suddenly behind me, and being the over dramatic person I am, summoned the scythe in my right hand and swung it around. At the last moment Auron suddenly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted. Both our eyes widen from shock, mine mainly from the realization that I almost hit Vicki.

"You should think before acting kid." Auron stated coolly as he released his grip and I let my scythe turn back into ribbons.

"That was rather stupid of you."

I turned around and at the entrance of the room stood, Rufus, Snow who probably made the comment, Zidane, Genesis, Lightning, and Sephiroth?

"OH MY GOD!" Vicki's dark aura quickly disappeared and was replaced with high alert. "Celeste eat his soul!" She shouted to which everyone raised an eyebrow except for P.J.

"Eat my soul?" Sephiroth repeated, looking dumbfounded. "How? Why?"

"YOU KILLED AERITH YOU BASTARD!" Vicki shouted at him, we all stared at her.

"Is she okay in the head?" Zidane asked, starting to cower behind Genesis.

'Vicki...' I thought to her. 'If he killed Aerith how is she still here? I mean that was a game, maybe the games aren't based off the real stories, just the characters.'

Vicki stopped her fuming and looked at me. "Maybe your right." she mumbled, to which everyone stared completely confused having not heard our conversation.

"Okay lemme explain this to you all." P.J. sighed. "The world we left them at for some reason is like a weird version of traverse town, the only difference is it's more like memories go there then actual people. Now, the memories become jumbled up and end up entering a resident's mind, thus their brains try to make sense of the story, thus making their own versions of the story. Now for some reason, the one that got the memory of Sephiroth, there mind made him evil and a destroyer of worlds. I only know this because it was in a game that Celeste played once." He finished.

"Well then how come Celeste didn't freak out like our friend here?" Genesis pointed towards Vicki who in returned growled.

"I didn't sense any hostility in his aura so I didn't think he was a major threat at the moment." I mumbled my rare shyness kicking in.

"That's odd and that whole 'eat his soul' ordeal?" Lightning spoke up for the first time.

"I can digest souls like food." I half whispered. Everyones eyes turned to P.J. for some kinda explanation.

"Don't look at me Vicki was the only experiment breed." He half whined waving his hands infront of his face. Vicki then perked up.

"Does that mean that places like resident evil are completely different?" She asked her hand fingering the lock she found at Shinra.

"Actually in some cases there is enough memories in the mind to make an accurate assumption, the only difference from the real and the fake is that you only become a zombie if they kill you, not if your plainly bitten." P.J. stated looking lost in though.

"How many worlds have you been too mutt?" I asked deciding to see if mutt was any better than pup.

"More than you know." He said while glaring at me.

"So will we be able to leave and explore them now?" Vicki asked, she probably realized I shouldn't talk when he's glaring.

"You'll have to wait a little bit. We're waiting for someone to show up." Snow grumbled.

"How long do we have to wait?" I asked rather talking to Snow at the moment even though he saw me be an idiot earlier.

"Either a couple hours or tomorrow." Sephiroth said. Not only was them talking for each other creepy, but Sephiroth doing it too was just plain weirding me out.

"Soooo, What will we do till then." I swear when I asked that I saw several people flinch.

"We could just amuse ourselves." Zidane said getting a little too close to me.

"Back off monkey boy." Vicki growled pushing Zidane away.

"Actually it's pretty late. You two should head off to bed." P.J. said giving us a way to escape.

"Okay night." Vicki and I ran out of the room.

"Where are we going to sleep?" I asked Vicki as we wandered down a random hallway.

"P.J. told me to show you your room when you get tired." I jumped up at the voice behind me. "Oh, hi Red XIII." I waved.

He nodded his head and started walking off, so we silently followed him.

'The room's a lot cleaner than my old one.' I thought to myself, or so I thought as Vicki giggled.

I walked into the next room which happened to be the bathroom. "Vicki I call dibs first!" I said really fast as I grabbed a towel and ran in. I could hear her roll her eyes as she waited for me. I came out when I was done in a long black t-shirt and a pair of large baggy striped shorts that I had to tie to keep up.

"Your turn." I grinned as she silently walked in. I wondered how she was going to clean her wings.

"I don't even want to think about it." she groaned as she shut the door. She came out a bit later with a tank top and a pair of pajama bottoms.

"I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow." I mumbled as Vicki flopped onto her bed.

"Who knows." She yawned as we both went to sleep.

"WAKE UP IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Someone jumped on the bed making me fly up and off it screaming. I heard a scream and another thonk so I knew Vicki didn't do it. I looked at my bed to see a grinning Rikku.

"Rikku I'm gunna kill you." I growled, jumping up, grabbing her forearms, and throwing her backwards into Vicki's whirlwind that Yuffie was in.

"How do you like that now Twitchy/Jumpy?" We say together.

Vicki flung them out the door and we heard multiple crunches. We looked at each other and ran outside.

"What the hell you two!" Sephiroth yelled at the two that woke us up. "Dad are you okay?" He said looking at Vincent who looked crippled on the floor.

"Just great." He murmured sarcastically.

"Holy shit!" I yelled pulling him into a more normal position. "Where does it hurt? Is anything broken?"

"I think a couple bones but I'll be- What are you doing?" He looked at me bewildered. Out of pure instinct, I had placed my hands over his chest and a white light came from it. The painful sound of bones being realigned echoed through the halls.

"Okay are you hurt at all Sephiroth?" I asked looking at him. Everyone had started staring at me weird. "What?"

"Celeste your eyes are like a death angels." Vicki said holding up a mirror from nowhere. She was right.

"Oh and I'm fine so you know." Sephiroth says getting up. "Anyway the people we were waiting for are here so you know. We were heading to meet them." He says as Vincent gets up and leaves.

"Wait a minute. Did he say dad earlier?" Vicki questions looking at me. We both went pale at that moment.

"L-Let's get going." I suggest as the four of us go to see the guest.

"Anyway, sorry were late we got held up by heartless." I knew the voice too well as I entered the room. "Oh you two are new." The guest says grinning. "I'm Sora pleased to meet you, this is Kairi and Riku." He says gesturing to the two teens behind him.

"OMG Hi!" I randomly say hugging the poor boy randomly. Surprisingly he hugged back. "Hi what's your name?" he grins.

"Oh...Celeste." I say backing up and getting red in the face. "And this is Vicki." I say pointing behind me.

"We got another happy-go-lucky kid with us." Riku groaned as Kairi giggled.

"Hey, What's that supposed to mean!" Sora and I both shouted. We looked at each other and turned away, and creepisly both placed our hands on the back of our necks. Vicki just bursted out laughing.

"Not funny Remedy." I growled.

"Yes it is _Zesty._" She laughed as my face heated up even more.

"Zesty huh?" Zidane mumbled to himself.

"Don't even try what you're thinking." Vicki suddenly yelled at him. Her tail twitched angrily. Her face was also very red.  
"How do you even know if I'm thinking about anything?" Zidane asked trying to seem innocent.

"I'm a minor telepath you dumbass." Vicki replied to which Zidane went red and walked away.

"So these are the people who are gunna help us find our family?" I ask P.J. examining Sora.

"Help you? I thought you were helping us?" Sora responds cutely

"You're helping each other." P.J. stated. "You're going to help Sora and his friends to seal the worlds, and while they travel there going to help you look for your home worlds." He started walking up to us. "So you're gunna need a bigger ship." He said walking towards one of the other ones in the garage. "I'm coming too, so you ready to go?"

I looked at the others who had already started to walk into the ship. I ran up to Sora. "Do you already know P.J.?" I asked

"Yeah, he helped us through a lot." He grinned. I stopped in my tracks.

"But he was with us for 4 years how-" I started.

"What did you think I did while you were at school?" He smirked as I sat down in one of the seats. And with the start of the engine we waved to our friends and went off to our next destination.


	13. Chapter 13

"But I wanna drive!"

"Sit your ass down! I'm driving!"

"Vicki! Language!"

"Oh, come _on, Mutt!_ They're teenagers! They're going to learn how to swear anyways! And Sora! Let go of my damned chair! I'm trying to drive here!"

Not like that was hard to do. Sora was already driving me up the walls. He wanted to drive the gummi ship, and I was actually appointed "official driver" by everyone else. Apparently, Sora has a bad tendency to crash ships. Other than Riku, I was the only one with any knowledge on how to drive, and he normally put it on autopilot. Talk about an annoyance. Finally, I sighed.

"Listen Sora. You can drive on the way back, how's that?" I groaned. The whole room went tense.

"Really?" he asked. I nodded.

"But you have to promise me that you will be quiet for the rest of the trip to the world, got that?" I growled. That made him shut up for a while. Two hours, thirty minutes, and five seconds of blissful silence. Yes. I did _actually_ count.

'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Celeste thought as I landed the ship. I gave her a nod.

"One thing to remember while we're here: do, as I do," I sighed. I jumped out of the ship and cloaked it. Once Celeste was out, I pulled her aside.

"Don't worry, it'll be on auto pilot," I whispered. She sighed in relief. Kairi suddenly screamed. I looked at her quickly. A zombie was attacking her. I quickly pulled out my Samurai Edge and fired. The shot went right through the zombie's head. It collapsed next to her. She was really shaken.

"You okay Kairi?" I asked in near monotone. She stared at me and nodded. Celeste started screaming swears in a different language. I turned and slapped her.

"Be quiet! You'll attract the zombies!" I hissed in the same language.

"Wh-what the hell was I speaking?" she yelled.

"I told you to be quiet! That was draconic, not that I know how we know it. Also, that was a zombie. They are infected with a deadly virus. If you don't kill them, they will kill you. And remember," I growled, "Crush their brains."

I heard gunfire far away from us.

"This is the world of Resident Evil. Survivors are rare. Let's move," I ordered. I must have been scary, because they all gave me a "yes ma'am!" and followed me. PJ even saluted. After a while, I could hear the very bodies dropping. Then the gunfire just stopped. I rounded a corner, only to see not zombies ripping apart a corpse, but one Jill Valentine standing in a pile of corpses. I sprang right into action. She never knew what hit her.

"What the?" she gasped. I guess I forgot to retract my wings and tail. I got off of her and grinned.

"Hi!" I chuckled. She stared at me.

"What are you…?" she whispered.

"The name's Vicki. I'm... uh… not human. It's really hard to explain right here and now. But don't worry; I'd rather kill zombies than eat humans," I explained, "Also, that's Celeste, PJ, Sora, Riku, and Kairi. No need to fear them either." Jill blinked at me a couple times.

"Uh… Let's get out of the streets," she mumbled.

Just as I got up, I heard a low growl. I snapped my head in its direction as a large lizard-like heartless ran at us. I pulled out my sword and slashed its head open. To say the least, it was gruesome. Soon, zombie-like heartless had flooded the street. We were all fighting within seconds. I flew into the air and snipped a good portion easily. I took my time, keeping a god eye on the others. Jill had quickly run out of ammunition, so I got her off the ground. She grabbed my samurai edge and shot as many rounds as she could. Celeste seemed to be having fun using a mix of her soul sucking ability and her Chicago Typewriter. Her power still freaked me out. Sora, Kairi and Riku were bashing the zombies' heads in. PJ shot a few and snapped some necks.

"Snapping necks works?" I asked.

"No, but it stalls them long enough," Jill replied.

Once the zombies were finally disposed of, I put Jill down and rolled my shoulders. My wings shrunk into my back.

"What? How?" Jill cried in alarm.

"I'll fill you in at a safe room. Too many Hunters around," I sighed.

"Don't forget the Lickers," Jill mumbled.

"Them too? Yuck." We both shivered. Jill proceeded to lead us to a nearby Wal-Mart. She explained that the few remaining survivors took it over. I wasn't sure who survived, but she let me know that this wasn't the first incident the other four survivors had encountered. Apparently, the other four were comprised of three men and one girl. I instantly thought of Left 4 Dead.

We entered the Wal-Mart quietly. Jill let out a loud whistle, which was answered by another. Jill motioned us to go down the aisles. I went down aisle 14 by myself. A sudden, very quick amount of footsteps brought me to alert. I looked around and growled softly. No one was around.

"Is everything okay?" Celeste asked in draconic.

"Yeah. Just thought I heard something," I replied, allowing my wings to grow back out for a stretch. I turned my back to the entrance of the aisle and saw a flash of red.

"_Vicki!_" came the inevitable cry.

"Gah! Who-?" I screamed as I fell backwards. I noticed the locks of dark brown hair in front of my face.

"Zoey…?" I questioned.  
"Cool! You know my name!" the girl giggled, looking straight at me. I lifted my eyebrow.

"Now I know how Aerith and Jill felt…" I commented, to which Zoey laughed.

"Sounds like Zoey found you," Jill chuckled. I stared at her.

"You could have at least warned me," I grumbled. Jill smirked. I heard Celeste laughing at the other end of the aisle.

"Nice one, Remedy," she teased.

"Please don't call me that. It's bad enough that Jumpy and Twitchy do it," I complained as Zoey got off of me.

"Jumpy and Twitchy?" she asked, helping me up.

"Yuffie and Rikku, but not the one in here with us," I sighed. Zoey nodded to me. Suddenly, a light turned on in her head.

"Hey, wanna help me with something?" she asked.

"Depends… will it hurt?"

"No… well, it is Francis." I raised my eyebrow again. She whispered her plan into my ear.

"You know, you're bad for me. But I'm still in. but I call behind," I said.

The two of us ditched everyone else and found the shipping area. I hide in the shadows, and waited.  
"Hey Francis! Jill found more survivors!" Zoey called. Francis came into view. Zoey started running up to him. I jumped out of the shadows and tackled him at the same time as Zoey. The sheer force given by both of us caused him to squeak.

"Mission complete!" we shouted together.

"Great, now there's two of you," Francis growled. The two of us grinned. Honestly, this small piece of normality made me feel better. I had been hiding my sadness since Midgar. These small bits of randomness that I used to do back home, or, what was my home, kept my mind off the subject. Unfortunately, it reminded me of that home as well.

"Are you two done?" Jill sighed. She was standing in the doorway.

"Yup! So, what's the plan of attack? Rest up, and then go through the hoard? Or simply wait here for a bit?" I asked.

"I need to get something from my apartment. Celeste has already agreed to come along," she started.

"And you want to know if I want to go too. Yeah sure, why not?" I said with a shrug.

"Alright. We leave at dawn," she replied, turning away from us. I wasn't sure what it was that she needed, but I knew it had to be important enough to go through a hoard of zombies. Good thing it was going to be just the three of us.


	14. Chapter 14

We were waiting now for tomorrow so we had to find stuff to do to pass the time.

"You should meet my other friends Bill and Louis!" Zoey chirped starting to dash off in another direction.

Vicki, P.J., and Sora went on ahead, Jill and Riku where nowhere in sight so that left Kairi and me. And Kairi still looked kinda scared from earlier so I gently took her hand and started walking towards where everyone else left.

"Don't worry too much, the sooner we find the keyhole, the sooner we can leave." I said giving her a reassuring smile. Even though I liked zombies, this place was getting to me too.

Kairi smiled gently and followed me as we walked over to Zoey, Sora, Vicki, and who I assumed where Bill and Louis.

"There you two are! Anyway this is Bill and Louis. And those two are Celeste and Kairi." Zoey said happily.

"The more the merrier!" Louis greeted. Bill just looked at us funny, the way we were all dressed probably stood out.

"What now?" Vicki asked all of a sudden.

"Oh let's go bug Francis!" Zoey suggested.

"Yeah!" And with that, Vicki and Zoey ran off.

"Poor Francis." Louis mused.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. I started walking away from the group and went down a random aisle. 'I wonder how good the food is.' I thought as I realized that I was down the cookie aisle. "Jackpot!" I cheered to myself grabbing some chocolate chip cookies and walking away somewhere silent to munch on my new treasure.

"Celeste! Are you in here?" I couldn't see who was calling me since I was in the dark corner of the power room munching, so I got up and walked over. Sadly because I was sitting down so long, I was stumbling around trying to get feeling back to my legs.

"Oh my god! There's a zombie back here!" Next thing I know a gunshot goes off and I fall backwards onto the ground. It took me a bit to realize I got shot in the chest.

"Thank god...it wasn't...my...head" I groaned, trying to get up so I could heal.

"Oh God Celeste!" I saw Francis running up to pick me up. "Guys hurry up! I shot Celeste!" I heard a bunch of footsteps as I blacked out.

I woke up and went to sit up. I fell back down right away because my chest was hurting.

"So you're awake." I heard P.J. from somewhere beside me.

"What happened?" I suddenly winced as I felt my muscles and skin move over the spot where I was shot. Then I remembered that Francis popped a big hole in my chest. I groaned as I felt my ribs repairing themselves. The healing was hurting a lot more than getting shot.

"You're gunna have hell to pay when they all wake up ya know." P.J. said as I heard him sit down.

"Yeah not looking forward to that." I mumbled rolling over and sitting up carefully to get a good look at P.J. Then I noticed he had new clothes on. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and some long jeans. "Nice outfit." I said a bit louder, since my strength was returning.

"Oh cause yours looks _so_ much better." He said sarcastically. I looked down and realized my chest was just barely covering by my shirt. Blushing I covered it with my hands, ignoring the pain I got from the sudden movement.

"You could have covered me with something." I hiss.

"I was examining your healing pattern." He said rolling his eyes. "And by the looks of it, it hurts a hell of a lot more healing it then getting it."

"Pervert." I said as my only comeback.

"Yeah, whatever." He said going behind him and grabbing something behind him. "For one thing, you're more like a sister after all this. Two." He said handing me what turned out to be a black tank top. "I already had this ready for you." He turned away. "Change if you want." Had an annoyed tone in his voice now. I quickly got up and ran to the clothing half of the store for a bra too since mine was caked in blood. P.J. probably didn't grab one for me since he knew I'd probably call him a lot worse than a pervert. The thought made me laugh; it was just like how I could push my sister's buttons. And just like that, happiness gone. But I still had P.J. I made a silent promise to protect the last of my family. Even if it kills me. I quickly changed and went back to where the group was sleeping.

"You might want to wake the other two, since it's almost dawn." P.J. suggested sitting in a more comfortable position. I nodded and went to wake up Vicki first.

Celeste you're okay? she whispered really loudly.

No, I'm a ghost sent to bug the crap outta you. I mumbled sarcastically Now wake up Jill and let's go.

I walked towards the entrance as Jill came up with Vicki.

"You're okay?" She asked bewildered. "I thought you were dead! You're not part zombie are you?"

"No, I have special powers like Vicki. I just didn't grow wings and a tail." I mumbled, taking out my Berretta 92f Custom "Samurai Edge" and releasing the scythe on my right hand. I took a deep breath and opened the doors. "Let's go."


	15. Chapter 15

We walked for what seemed like hours on end. Jill said that the apartment building was about six to seven blocks away. She failed to mention how large the blocks were. We were pretty winded by the third block. Jill, on the other hand, was barely fazed. It appears that she made this trip quite often. Both Celeste and I thought she was crazy, but considering what she has seen, this "little walk" would seem like an ordinary form of exercise. I sniffed the air every now and then, checking for survivors. Of course, this sparked an explanation of our races. While Celeste explained what she knew of her race, I focused on our path.

We stopped in an office building for a break. It was only the fourth block at this point. That's when it dawned on me why she wanted to leave so early in the morning.

"Why did it have to be in your apartment?" I whined.

"Because I had no idea that we would need it now," Jill sighed. It seemed that she was regretting leaving the item in her apartment.

"What is _it_ anyways?" Celeste asked.

"_It_ is a notebook I kept while working at the police station," Jill explained, "It has notes on the secrets and clues we need to get out of here."

"Like in the Raccoon Police Department Building?" I asked. I already knew this was going far over Celeste's head.

"Exactly. I solved some of the puzzles, but I need help with the others," Jill groaned. Anyone could tell that she didn't want the help, but needed it if she wanted to survive.

"So, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that there's an underground railroad, right?" I reasoned.

"I actually don't know. I never got that far. But what I do know is that it's an escape route," she sighed.

"So it could be anything. Sounds fun. Any of the others here in the city?" I asked.

"Chris was here for a while, but he disappeared. Rebecca was here too, but she went missing with him. After that, I've got nothing," she replied, "We should get moving again."

We wandered out into the streets again and rested at the sixth block. Jill remembered that there were a ton of zombies in her building, so a rest was required at this point. Once we were at the building, I noticed how huge it was. Jill was on the third floor, fortunately. We pushed the doors open slowly. I held my Samurai Edge up as I entered. The lobby was surprisingly quiet.

"You'd think everyone was dead in here," Celeste commented. Jill and I giggled.

We took the stairs, since both elevators were broken. Going up, Celeste decided it would be more fun to count how many times each person got a head shot. What surprised me was that Jill actually _went along_ with it. The final count going up was: Celeste: 4, Jill: 5, me: 2. I would have gotten more if Celeste and Jill _weren't in front of me_. Figures. We walked into the hall just as quietly. I managed to get all head shots of all of the zombies. They both told me that it only mattered on stairs because of that, to which I grinned.

Jill's apartment was a right then a left down the hall. It was exactly how I expected it to be: a mess. I think Celeste was incredibly shocked by this, considering how organized Jill seemed. Jill left for her bedroom to search for the tiny book. I was tasked with the kitchen and Celeste the living room. I searched in all of the typical places first. I actually found it in what I thought was the weirdest, but smartest place in the kitchen to hide anything; in a plastic bag, under the garbage can, which was under the sink. Why was it there? Who knows? This is Jill Valentine we're talking about.

I pulled the book out its bag and opened to a random page. It was filled with notes. I flipped through until I came across something out of the ordinary. It was a badly drawn version of one Albert Wesker. A bullet wound was in his head. Written above him were the words "poo poo head". I snickered, knowing how much Jill must have hated him. I continued to flip through and snicker.

"Did you find it?" Celeste asked me, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah. Take a look at this," I told her. She took the notebook and stared at it questionably. That's when Jill walked into the room. She noticed what we were looking at and snatched it away from us.

"Nice drawings, Picasso," I chuckled.

"Th-they're not mine!" she retorted, hugging the notebook.

"Then what's the colour your red face?" I asked. The comment made her blush harder.

"l-let's just get out of here," she ordered. I knew she was trying to retain her composure, but was failing at it miserably.

We walked back out into the hall and down the stairs. The score for that round was Celeste: 4, Jill: 3, me: 10. They both claimed that I somehow cheated. I just had the better spot this time around. We went outside and a small breeze floated by. I caught a faint smell in it.

"Hold up. I smell something," I said.

"Probably the zombies," Jill sighed.

"No. It's definitely alive," I grumbled. The smell was getting a little stronger.

"Can you tell what it is?" Celeste asked.

"Yeah. Lessee here… Okay, it's human… Female… She's tired, from running most likely… No, definitely… She's Caucasian, I think… Huh, that's a lot of blood that isn't hers… There's a knife… Is that gun residue…? Oh, nice perfume, but the death scent doesn't compliment that… Oh, she's got a hint of your scent, Jill… Hm… Well, _now_ there's wound. I propose that we find this girl. She's probably in trouble," I commented.

"I agree. No use in leaving another survivor behind," Celeste said. Jill silently agreed. With that, we took off in the survivor's direction.

It was another block or two before we got close enough to hear gun fire. I took off into the sky to see if I could make out a quick way to the girl. I could see little flashes of light in the distance, and obvious sign of a struggle. Shouting reached my ears. I flew closer to the ground.

"I see something. Let's hurry," I told Jill and Celeste before ascending again. I pulled out my hunting rifle and brought it up to my shoulder so I could see who it was.

"Good to see you, Claire," I laughed to myself. I flew down again, keeping up with they're speed easily.

"Hey. It's Claire. Chris's sister," I said.

"What? What is she doing here?" Jill asked in shock.

"Don't know yet. Probably looking for Chris. Let you know when we save her from the hoard," I replied before gaining altitude. I shot down a few of the zombies closest to Claire. She seemed a little shocked, especially when she couldn't find the sniper. Jill dove right into the hoard, guns blazing. Celeste stayed back and sucked out the souls of the ones furthest from her, occasionally slicing them if they got too close. I landed on a roof top and continued sniping. I really didn't want to get too close. Claire got a few good headshots just as I sniped the last infected.

"Are you okay?" Jill asked, walking up to Claire. Claire sat down on the road.

"Yeah, thanks," she heaved. Her breath was irregular. My guess was that she had been running for a long time. I floated down to the ground and walked up to her. Claire comically stared at me and Celeste for a while.

"No, you are not seeing things," Jill snickered, as if she read Claire's mind. I tried very hard not to laugh when she stared at Jill as if she were crazy.

"We should get out of the streets. We need to tend to that wound," I said, my laughter shaking my voice. Claire covered her wound and Jill helped her up.

'Vicki, you do know I can easily heal her here,' Celeste thought.

"Yeah, but now's not the time. She needs to rest too," I responded. Claire stared at me and I shook my head. With that, we headed to the nearest building to make a quick safe room to rest in. Good thing no zombies followed us. I don't think we could handle them in this condition.


	16. Chapter 16

We made it too a safe room a couple blocks away, I couldn't say how thankful I was there was no zombies around as we walked in.

"We're going to stop the bleeding and let you rest for a bit. Then we'll get Celeste to heal you back up." Vicki said as I walked around the safe house that we found.

The room, which I assumed was a living room, had lots of pictures of the family that lived here. The parents holding their newborn kids in one picture, and a bunch of small kids playing in another. It made me sad to think about what must have happened to the family when they all got infected.

Vicki, let me know when Claire can at least sit up on her own, because we can't risk her passing out, especially near dark. I mused examining more pictures on a coffee table.

Okay, but why when she can sit up? She asked looking at the pictures. I could sense the depressing aura forming around us.

Because if it works on her like it works on me, then it'll hurt like hell. I looked at a picture of a family dog now with two kids trailing behind it.

Vicki nodded and left the room to scavenge around for food for us to eat since we where most likely spending the night.

A few hours later, Claire was able to sit up by herself as well as stand weakly.

"This might hurt." I mumbled waiting for her to show she was ready. As she nodded I concentrated on the movement of her muscles and bones realigning with her skin to the way I knew it fit. She yelped in pain and sat up and Jill and Vicki pinned her down. As the last of the healing finished I sat back and breathed deeply.

"She should be fine now. Are we staying here till morning?" I asked standing up.

"It would be easier on us if we did." Jill said getting up as well. "I'll see if I can make us anything for dinner." She added as she walked over to the kitchen.

I flopped down onto one of the sofas in the living room. I put my hand into my pouch and found something that immediately gave me a mix of happiness, and sadness, my sketchbook. I drew a lot in it, and I always seemed to draw near one of my sisters. I sighed despite myself and started drawing to pass the time. Something told me I wasn't going to be hungry after all the souls I ingested.

We left the second we saw daybreak and started towards the Wal-Mart to get everyone else. Then saw something I really didn't need to or want to see, the tank zombie from left 4 dead. The huge mass of muscles was attacking the Wal-Mart, even though I never played the game, I had read enough info on it to know that we needed to think of a strategy fast, surfing on a computer will do that to ya.

"Stay a good distance away from it!" Vicki immediately shouted. As I looked at the tank I saw she was shouting at Sora, who was then hit by the tank with enough force to go through the wall of the Wal-Mart.

Before Vicki took off in flight, I grabbed her arm.

Hit it with a Molotov. I said as strategies I had read about came flooding back clear as day.

I would, I don't have any. She said as she went to look around probably knowing the same thing I did.

Check around the stores then. I hissed I'm gunna see if Sora's okay. and with that I ran towards the building.

As I almost made it to the door I could see Riku and Kairi were casting magic at the tank and everyone else shooting, but no Sora.

"Celeste you're alive!" Kairi shouted as I saw her aura become happy.

"Look out!" I didn't know who shouted but as I looked behind I was hit by tank, and went through the wall.

"Oww..." I mumbled getting up. "Sora?" I looked around as my bones realigned, but immediately squeezed my eyes shut from the pain that the healing was causing

"Celeste? You're okay? We thought you were dead." I heard Sora somewhere to my left and strained to open my eyes.

"Common, you think a little bullet hole like that would stop me." I grinned as I got enough strength to get up and see him. I crawled over and started healing his bones.

"The 'little hole' was big enough for me to put my head through Celeste." He said starting to wince as his bones realigned.

"Stay still you're making me lose my concentration. I'm okay now so don't worry." I said as I got up. "Now stop sleeping and help us kill the Zombie." I joked pretending to scold him.

As we ran out I noticed something that would make this Zombie harder to kill, the damn tank was possessed by heartless. "You cheater!" I shouted at the Tank, bad idea, it turned its attention towards Sora and I and started towards us. Just as it was about to strike, it suddenly lit up in flames and fell to the ground. Above it was a grinning Vicki with another Molotov in her hand.

"Thankies!" I shouted.

"Celeste! Sora! How are you okay? I thought that you were dead! Not that it's a bad thing." Louis grinned sheepishly as he ran up to us.

"Healing does wonders." I mumbled.

"I was so worried!" Kairi glomped me from my right.

"What about me?"Sora whined.

"We know your head is too thick for any major damage." Riku joked coming up.

"You found another survivor?" P.J. asked as Vicki came up with Jill and Claire.

"We sure did brother!" I randomly chimed then covered my mouth. "Oops, sorry."

"Hey it's okay, you're like an annoying sister anyway."P.J. laughed. I puffed out my cheeks.

"Did you find what you're looking for?" Bill asked coming up with Francis and Zoey.

"Yeah, let's go now so we can finish this." Jill said. Then we started walking to our next destination.


	17. Chapter 17

After gathering more explosive items, we headed directly for the police station. We had to stop at a safe house to heal up, rest and collect ammunition. I never truly understood why there was an infinite amount of ammo just lying around. You'd think little animals would steal it or something.

"So Claire… why are you here?" Jill asked. Claire tensed right up. I had a bad feeling on where this one was headed. Jill stared at Claire, who fidgeted.

"I-I was… looking for Chris… he sent me a weird message. I can't figure it out," Claire sighed. As I predicted, she wasn't supposed to be here. Jill held out her hand and Claire put a tape recorder in it.

"I'll be back," Jill said before walking off.

"Jill's really scary right now…" Celeste sighed, sitting next to me. At this point, neither Jill nor Claire knew that we had heard them.

"She's just a little tense, is all," I explained.

"Why?"

"Claire being here for one. She's not supposed to be here, but she is. Kinda like in Resident Evil 2 and 3, only they actually see each other this time around."

"Oh."

"The other part of it would be getting out, obviously. But the third is the fact that Chris contacted Claire, and didn't bother contacting her, as if he thought she didn't need a warning or something. It's kinda complicated."

We sat in silence until Jill called us over. We looked at each other and shrugged. The table was covered with notes on scrap pieces of paper and torn wallpaper. As if reading her mind, because I actually wasn't, we sifted through the notes quickly and came to the same conclusion.

"Claire was tricked," I said bluntly. Celeste nodded right away. Jill stared at us.

"Since I know you're going to want to know why, all I really need to say is Wesker. He's less angry with you than Chris it seems, and is using Claire as bait, again. How unoriginal," I explained. Jill paled at the very mention of Wesker.

"Just look at the very fact that the voice quality is bad. Can we say "voice simulator" loud enough? Also, that's draconic he's speaking there. It says "Have fun, Dear Heart", which is creepy," Celeste continued.

"So, why send a message? Why not just take Claire and hold her for ransom?" Jill asked.  
"I don't know. Effect maybe. Or to get Chris to pull a "lone hero" thing. It is Wesker we are talking about here," I sighed, "Knowing him, it could be anything."

"Yo! Jill! Celeste! Vicki! We're leaving!" Louis called. I helped Jill put away the notes and got Celeste to tell them we would be ready in a minute.

"Weren't you a little harsh on Claire?" I questioned quietly.

"You heard that?" Jill asked just as quietly.

"You're thinking about it too," I responded.

"… Was I too harsh?" she mumbled. I raised a brow.

"You're worried that she might hate you for something as trivial as that? Just go apologize, and mean it," I replied. Jill nodded and walked off. I sighed.

"All of this seriousness is getting to me…" I mumbled before walking calmly after her.

We made it to the police station a few indefinite hours later. The gates were locked. A small grin appeared on my face as I pulled out my switchblade. I walked up to the gates and opened them quickly.

"Après vous," I said with a smile. I motioned them inside. I couldn't help but notice that Jill seemed impressed. Actually, make that Jill, Claire and Bill. To say the least, it was weird. We walked through the yard without trouble, other than getting Francis to stop being trigger-happy. Jill unlocked the front door to the police station and we filed in. Bill thought that we should split into smaller groups. I claimed that going into smaller groups was a dumb idea, due to the fact that some of us were about as experienced with zombies as truck driver was with flying a plane. Despite this, I lost the debate, because there were three of us who could use a lock pick. I was paired with Celeste, PJ, and Riku. Claire got Francis, Bill and Kairi. Jill, Sora, Zoey and Louis made the last group. Bill's group went upstairs, Claire's to the left, and mine to the right.

"This is going to cause _so_ many problems," I growled cynically. PJ was in front, followed by me, then Riku, and then finally Celeste. The line was PJ's idea. I was just glad that it was working. PJ checked around the corner and motioned us forward. First things I noticed about this hallway were the broken windows. I pulled out my shotgun and aimed for them. Riku claimed that I was being jumpy, but a growl made him go quiet quickly.

"Hey, Pass A Shot. Was that you?" I asked.

"No, you?" PJ responded. I whitened quickly.

"Drop!" I ordered as a Left 4 Dead hunter flew around the corner. I dropped down on one knee and waited. PJ had fortunately complied and opened the way to a jump shot.

"You okay, Mutt?" I asked as the hunter crumpled onto the floor.

"Must you always use such derogatory terms?" PJ growled.

"Think of them as nicknames, which they are. Also, I can call you worse," I snickered. I patted his shoulder as I walked past.

We made it to our first puzzle. To say the least, I wasn't impressed. Remove blue gem from false tiger's eye socket, get item. Place it back, remove red gem and get item. Real easy. All for a key card and a bunch of bullets. Bullets we didn't even need. I sighed as we continued. Suddenly, an odd smell floated past. My throat rumbled.

"Let's see what flaming lizard smells like," I grumbled, rounding the corner. I pounced onto the enhanced hunter. I pulled out my sword and the blazing blade sliced through its skin. I somehow flipped onto its back and pushed it forward.

"Celeste!" I called.

"Way ahead of ya!" she answered. I could see a dark mass float out of the monster and into Celeste.

"Enhanced hunters. Gross," I said, spitting at the ground.

I heard screams from another room. All four of us ran towards the sound. A loud hiss rippled in my ears.  
"Careful! It's Yawn!" I roared at them.  
"Yawn? What do you-" Riku started.  
"It's a giant snake! Don't get bit!" I interrupted. I pushed Water Song back into its sheath and pulled out my Samurai Edge. I burst into a library as Claire hit the wall. That set me off just that much more. I roared, quickly gaining the snake's attention as PJ dragged Claire out of the way. Celeste had successfully sneaked to the other side of the snake with Riku. I noticed Kairi lying limp in its tail. I swore silently.

Yawn lunged at me, to I responded with a shot to its face. It hissed and slithered around some bookshelves. Celeste got the next hit, hitting it with both of her scythes over its eyes. Yawn decided to attack Francis, who rolled to the side and shot his gun twice. I attacked the snake's neck with my claws. Celeste and Riku continuously attacked its tail to free Kairi. PJ pulled me off of the snake as it bit its own neck. It screeched in pain and slid away, letting go of Kairi as it did so.

"Kairi!" Riku shouted. He was hunched over her with obvious concern.

'She got bit,' Celeste explained. I growled and left the room in a huff. I wasn't in the best mood to think of what I was doing. Subconsciously, I knew that I was putting myself in great danger. Consciously, all I could focus on was getting the serum as fast as I could. I, of course, was unaware that Bill had already been carrying the serum. I found the most likely room that a serum would be kept and found nothing. I pounded the wall a few times before I calmed down slightly.

"Damn it!" I shouted. I smacked a computer and it turned on.

"Hm?" The bottom of the screen blinked orange. I clicked on the program. My tail flicked with curiosity.

"S.T.A.R.S… Jill Valentine…" I breathed. I noticed something strange with the file. I printed it and pulled up another file. This went on for an hour. Much later, I ran back to the library, trying desperately to hold the papers together.

"Bill! PJ! You gotta see this!" I yelled bursting into the room. No one was there.

"They're not here," Riku said coolly, "They're out looking for _you_."

"Damn it. We have a big problem," I grumbled.

"And what's that?" Francis growled.

"Well, first of all, now's not the time to scold me for running off. Look at these," I slammed the papers on the ground.

"Huh? What are these?" Celeste asked, crawling over the papers.

"Profiles. And it's not just from here. Here's one about Sephiroth. There's one about Dante and Vergil. Here's one about Kairi. And that one's about PJ," I said.

"Hey, you got one on me?" Francis asked with a laugh. I shoved a couple of papers into his face. I never thought that I would ever see the man go as pale as he did. I continued to reorganize the papers.

"I think someone's been gathering data on people, although I can't say for what just yet. And no Celeste, there isn't one for us, yet. We are mentioned in PJ's, Jill's, Cid's and Sora's profiles, but not even by our given names. You're called "Toxic" and I'm "Lightless". Remember those names? And this is freaky. I found this on the desk. Note the location and our forms. This is too recent." I gave Celeste a picture from just before we entered Radiant Gardens. Her face went pale.

"There you are! You should know better than to run off!" PJ yelled at me.

"Be glad I did. You wouldn't have seen this if I didn't," I hissed. I tossed his profile at him. I pulled most of the papers together.

"Did you think to take them off the drive?" PJ asked. I could sense his worry. I snickered, pulling out my lock. I spun it around my finger.

"That's your lock. What does that have to do with anything?" he asked. I grinned and caught the lock.

"The data's safe. Trust me. If you can't find it, then how can anyone else?" I said, putting it away. I just got stares. I stood and looked at Kairi.

"You got 'er a serum, right?" I asked. Bill nodded. Claire picked up the papers.

"Let's get out of here," she sighed.

"First, I want to know something. Pajashok, do you know who did this?" I growled. He was involved in too much of this already.

"You're the telepath, you tell me," he snarled back.

"You know my telepathy's not good enough for that. You've been involved from the start of this, so tell us!" I barked. My tail twitched violently.

"Come on PJ. You have to know something about this," Celeste reasoned. She was only slightly calmer than I was. She just kept it together better

"Look, if I knew, I'd tell you-" he began.

"Don't give me that bullshit! You didn't tell us that you only saved us! You didn't tell us you were with the Turks! Hell, you didn't even tell us that you were gonna make us go through all this crap just to see where we came from! Why should we trust you? Give me one damn good fucking reason why I shouldn't claw you to death!" I howled. My hair stood on end. My wings flared. My tail was going crazy. I wanted to pound him so hard that he'd feel it next month. The only one stopping me was Celeste. She loved him like family. And she doubted him too.

"I don't know, _okay_! I'm not omnipotent! Now shut your yap and think for a second! Would I do something like this? All of this information could jeopardize all that we have worked so hard for! Even before we knew about you two!" he roared.

"Vicki! Calm down! PJ's got a point!" Celeste said, standing in between us, "And PJ, what is it that you are working for?"

PJ was about to answer her when a growling zombie jumped at him. Bill shot it just before it rammed into PJ's back. Celeste pulled him out of the way. I pulled out my shotgun and blasted a few of the zombies that came through the door. Celeste jumped into the air and pulled out her Samurai Edge. I shot a few more times and let Celeste get a few rounds in. Her ribbons formed scythes on her arms. She gave me a signal to get moving. I put my guns away before crouching on the ground. My wings retracted into my back. I launched myself into the hoard. Using my tail for balance, I clawed my way through the crowd. It almost seemed like I wasn't going anywhere until Celeste flew past me, almost quite literally. I realized we were already in the hall. I caught Celeste with the wind around her and threw her at me. She sliced a few of the infected in front of me as I jumped into the air. I landed a drop kick into a zombie's head. It crushed gruesomely around my boot.

PJ burst into the crowd with the others. He pushed past the zombies easily. I cleared the path with a couple thrusts of wind. Celeste began to cut a path for us to get out. A tank bellowed as he tried to make his way through the cramped hall.  
"This way!" I roared. I jumped over the zombies and landed next to Celeste. I quickly switched fighting styles and brought my sword up through a zombie's face. We hacked our way through them and ran for it. I led them back to the lab I had found the profiles. It was open enough for us to be able to take the tank down. The tank soon busted the doors open. Celeste got the jump on it by attacking it from behind as soon as the doors hit the floor. I pushed several "wind blades" into its legs. It roared in pain as Celeste sucked its soul out.

After a couple minutes of thrashing, the tank finally fell. We all sighed in relief. I tiredly slid to the floor.

"You know Celeste, that was a little like Soul Eater," I said. The reference went completely over her head. After a minute or so she finally got it.

"That was terrible," she sighed. She crossed her arms and sat down next to me

"I know, but so are the rest of my jokes," I snickered.

"Hey, did you ever figure out anything about that lock?" she asked.

"No. I almost forgot about it." I pulled it out of my pocket and picked it open.

"It really bugs me that it was in the Shinra building. I mean, it appears as though the world never crossed. It's confusing…" I sighed.

"Maybe Wesker brought it there?" Celeste suggested. I shivered.

"I sure hope not." I pulled my legs up to my chest.

"You're not going to have another break down are you?"

"Not today. But I might get angry later."

A few hours of silence passed. Most of the group had either left or fallen asleep. Only Celeste and I remained conscious of our surroundings. We just sat there, occasionally talking, getting some much needed drawing time, and waiting… waiting for something to happen. Finally, it did, in the form of Zoey.

"_Auhg! Help! Smoker!_" she cried. I sprang up and ran out of the room and tackled the zombie from behind. Before anyone else could react, my switchblade was bloodied and the infected's head rolled down the hall. I yanked Zoey off the floor and back to the room as the body puffed into smoke. I began coughing almost immediately. Celeste pulled us down into a seated position in our corner. Apparently, Zoey's screaming had woken up Francis. He was ready to shoot anyone who got through the door.

"You okay?" we asked each other. I coughed again into my arm and nodded. Zoey gave me a funny look.

"Environmental asthma. I can't breathe when there's enough smoke," I wheezed.

"Do you need an inhaler?" Zoey asked. I shook my head.

"Just air," I replied. Zoey and Celeste looked at each other and shrugged.

Sora slid into the room soon after my coughing ceased. He tripped and fell flat on his face.

"Nice entrance," Riku said sarcastically.

"Good one Riku," I snickered. The lack of comic relief was getting to us. Jill just sighed as she pulled Louis into the room. I felt sorry for her. She must have almost gone nuts because of the combined overly happy powers of Louis and Sora.

"Optimists. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em," she groaned, causing Celeste and I to snicker. She just glared at us. Zoey shifted uncomfortably. Bill, PJ and Claire returned from their scouting a few seconds after everyone settled down.

"Now that we're all together, we have a problem," Jill moaned.

"Great, what is it this time?" Francis grumbled.

"Quit complaining. It's probably your fault." Claire smirked as Francis shot her a glare.

"You two know about Nemesis right?" Jill sighed, directing her attention to me and Celeste.

"Please tell me he's not here," I groaned.

"Sorry, you're out of luck. He is. Better yet, he's not just looking for S.T.A.R.S members, but a "Toxic" and a "Lightless". You two wouldn't happen to know anything on them, would you?" she explained. I felt myself go pale.

"That would be us," Celeste sighed. She seemed annoyed and scared. I shook at the thought of him finding us.

"There goes that plan," Jill growled.

"Anyways, here's another problem," Celeste said as she snatched Jill's profile from me. Jill looked it over and blushed.

"H-how did they find _that_ out?" she shrieked. I instantly shut off all connection to her mind and tossed her a permanent marker. She scribbled over the piece of information and handed it back. Whatever it was, she didn't want it known. I figured it must have been some mistake from the past or something, possibly worse, considering the reaction.

"There's one on everyone here, minus myself and Celeste," I explained, finally regaining my own posture, "And what's worse is the fact that I found it in a very odd folder. It was titled "Most Wanted – S Rank". I think someone is seriously out to get us."

"That is a major problem…" PJ sighed.

"This one's only important for now, but Kairi's unconscious. Yawn got her," Francis stated. Jill paled.

"Fortunately, Bill already had a serum on him. Kairi might be in a coma for another hour or so," Claire continued. Jill sighed in relief.

"So, on the topic of Kairi, we will have to wait it out. But then there're those puzzles. As much as we all know Vicki hates it, we need to split into two groups. One to stick with Kairi until she wakes up, and one to finish the puzzles," PJ sighed. I grumbled as everyone else agreed.

"I call having Vicki and Celeste in my group then," Jill said bluntly. Both Celeste and I looked at her highly confused.

"If it's that way, I'll stay with Kairi. You guys can take Francis," Claire stated.

"I don't see why I can't just heal her," Celeste mumbled.

"She's just unconscious. The poison's already gone, so the body just needs rest," I explained.

"How do you know that?" Celeste asked, looking at me funny.

"I can smell it. I'm still figuring that one out," I snickered. I pulled out a Bacardi Breezer from my jacket. I ignored the funny looks as I downed a quarter of the bottle and shut it.

"Anyways…" I prompted.

"Zoey, you go with them," Bill ordered. Zoey only nodded. In her head, she was at a halfway point of annoyance and happiness.

"Sora, you stay here with us. Riku you're with them," PJ said blandly.

After a little while, we left. Jill had swiped some long-distance radio headsets "just in case". Turns out that "just in case" was very justified for the current situation.

"_Hey, Horse. You got anything yet?_" Celeste asked through her headset. The problem we were working on was faintly familiar, as if it had been pulled strait out of the world of Fringe.

"I'm still at the same place I was when you asked three minutes ago, Wolf. And yes, I did count," I sighed, "Damn, I wish Walter was here."

"_Walter? Who's that?_" she questioned. Something caught my eye.

"You sly temptress. I'll get back to you on that. I think I got it. Stay in position," I said, a small smile slithering into position.

"_Roger that. I'll inform Tiger,_" she responded before switching channels. Celeste had the wonderful idea of using codenames. Needless to say, Jill was Tiger. Why? Chinese astrology. That's also why I got Horse. Celeste got Wolf simply "'cause it sounds cool". Zoey was Rabbit, Francis got Ox, and Riku was Ram. Zoey complained about hers, but it was Rabbit, Pig or Rat.

Just as I wrote the final chemical compound down on the wall, a loud roar rumbled behind me.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," I groaned. I pulled out my shotgun and turned my radio to Francis's frequency.

"_Ox! Get your ass over here! I know the answer and I need support fire! Move it!_" I screamed. A tank ran into the room and attacked me right away.

"_Keep yourself together kid. I'm coming!_" he responded. The tank grabbed me and threw me out into the hall. I landed about twenty feet away.

"Ow… that smarts…" I moaned. I didn't even get the chance to move before I was slammed into a wall. I screamed in pain. My ribs cracked and blood flew out of my mouth. I flew another few feet through the wall. My eyes felt heavy as Francis went Terminator on the tank. Damn him and his invincibility.

Hours later, I awoke to Francis carrying me.

"Morning sunshine," he chuckled.

"Ow… is it dead?" I asked painfully.

"Yeah. Another second and you'd be dead. Good thing you called me," he said. His tone had darkened tenfold.

"It's that bad, huh?" I sighed. I coughed up more blood.

"Gross. Yeah, that bad. I'm gonna get Celeste to heal you up. You need it," he told me in monotone. I swore in my head.

'Not the way I wanted to go down. That tank kicked my ass,' I thought. Francis, on the other hand, was completely unharmed. I shut my eyes for a bit. Zoey saw me as soon as we rounded the next corner.

"What did you do to her?" she yelled.

"Quiet! Tank got 'er," he explained, "Didn't hold back either. Can you do anything to help?"

"Not if it's a broken rib," Zoey explained.

"Damn," he growled. Another spray of blood shot out from my mouth.

"How many?" she asked.

"Three," he answered.

"I hate Mondays," I complained. Francis snickered.

"I'll contact Celeste. You go find her," Zoey said grimly. Francis nodded and took off.

"This is going to hurt so much…" I sighed. Blood ran from the corner of my mouth onto my shirt. The blood had a horrible smell to it, much different from the kind I bled at Tifa's bar during my painful transformation. The odor had a faint hint of a virus. I couldn't compare it, but I had a feeling it was transferred from one of the infected monsters.

Francis quickly found Celeste. He laid me down and she got strait to work. My head was too fuzzy now, and I had the feeling that I was dying. Pain spread to its main focus on my ribs. I couldn't hear anything but murmurs around me. Even the cracking of my bones was inaudible. I felt cold and tired. I had a feeling that whatever made my blood smell so bad was trying to kill me. Darkness surrounded me once again.

_I could hear the Hymn of the Fayth. It was dark all around me. I could smell my own terrible blood, and some form of human blood. It was terrible. A zombiefied version of me walked out into my view. It lunged at me, trying desperately to get a bite of my flesh. I clawed back at it. Slowly, I had begun to sing the hymn. The zombie stepped back, as if the hymn scared it. I sung it louder, fire and wind swirling around me. I pushed my hand forward. The infected screeched in pain. I pushed again, this time with the fire flowing with it. The infected screeched again, holding its head. I could see it burn in the fire. A sharp pain rocketed up my spine. I screamed._

I woke up screaming. Sweat dripped down from my body. The pain was still there, but it had lessened a little. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to the figure, frightened to the very core of my being. Jill stared at me with complete concern. I already knew what she was thinking.

"Did you test my blood?" I asked. She nodded.

"It came back positive. We got you a vaccine, thanks to Celeste and Zoey, so you should be fine. But take it easy. Who knows what infected you," she explained grimly. I remembered the events of Resident Evil 3.

"You were infected once, and you didn't let that stop you. Why should I take it easy if I know it won't hinder me?" I reasoned. She looked absolutely shocked. Suddenly, she smirked.

"Alright, smart ass. You win. But Celeste and Francis have to stay with you at all times," she laughed.

"Okay, sounds fair," I chuckled, "By the way, I'm not a smart ass, I'm just an ass." Jill laughed again. I could feel the relief of everyone around me, although slight tension filled the room as well.

It took me until now to notice that we were in the room of the puzzle was. I pulled out the paper I had written the answer on and handed it to Celeste. She put in the answer in the computer, which was surprisingly still working and unharmed. A wall slid open slowly. Francis and Zoey helped me to my feet. We walked into the opening. Riku checked behind us as the wall slid shut. I lit my sword and walked in front of everyone else. Francis stayed right behind me.

After a while, I heard some faint crying. All alarms went off in my head.

"Is that a survivor?" Zoey asked. I sheathed my sword, eliminating the fire in the process.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up. I've had some pretty bad experiences with criers in this setting," I sighed. We continued on in the near darkness. The crying got louder as we progressed.

"I can't see a thing. Can someone turn on a light?" Riku complained.

"Not if you want to live. That witch is real close," Celeste retorted quietly. I looked around the corner quickly.

"Damn. She's in our way. We have to either gun her down or cr0wn her," I growled.

"I'll do it," Francis offered.

"Do you even know what cr0wning is?" Celeste asked skeptically.

"He doesn't. Basically Francis, you just run up and shoot her head off with your shotgun before she notices you. Got it memorized?" I responded quickly.

"I got it, I got it," he chuckled, running out from around the corner. A few seconds later, there was a gunshot. Then silence.

"Can we turn the lights on now?" Zoey asked. I giggled nervously and nodded.

"F-ing witches…" I muttered. I pulled put my lighter again and continued on forward. No one spoke until we reached the next puzzle.

"I hate puzzles" Francis complained.

"Shut up Francis," Jill growled. It was highly amusing to see the much larger man shrink to the back of the group. Even Riku laughed at him. Jill continued to scowl as she entered the room. I looked around and growled.

"Music puzzle," Celeste called.

"And now I know what to do," I mumbled. I pulled out a folder of sheet music for the piano. I flipped through slowly, inspecting all of the titles of the songs. My memories brought my dream up from back in Midgar.

'Wasn't that girl playing the Moonlight Sonata? Hm… Wait a second… Brown Hair + Pale Skin + Piano = … Jill friken Valentine. Why didn't I see that one sooner? Stupid me, stupid!' I thought, pulling out a small booklet of music.

"Jill, your piano skills are needed," I said, some of my annoyance rising into my voice. While most laughed, Jill looked at me confused. She walked up to me and took the booklet.

"Why me?" she asked softly. Her complexion paled right up when she noticed the title.

"Because as far as I know, you're the only one of us that can play a piano," I explained flatly, "Besides, you already know the song." I received another confused look as she went to sit at the grand piano. I went across the room and fell into a chair. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on any new little noises. Clicking was the one that I was looking for. Soon, I just focused on the song. I opened my eyes again and watched Jill. Everything seemed blurry for a second. I shook my head.

"I think I'm going crazy because of that damned dream," I mumbled. I now had to watch my dreams carefully. If anything, my dreams were leaving me hints. Not something you want to realize in a zombie apocalypse. I leaned back and finally heard my clicking. I got up from the chair as it slid back quickly.

"Oh… That wouldn't have been pleasant," I stated. Francis pulled me back as the wall shut.

"Be careful," he growled. I nodded slowly. When Jill finally finished the song, we heard a stone begin to slide. The across from me slid open. All six of us bolted for it. The wall almost closed on Zoey. She had just enough time to squeeze into the dark hallway.

Riku picked up a triangular stone off of the floor. He gave it to Jill.

"Recognize this?" he asked. Jill cringed.

"Yes. Worst… puzzle… ever…" she grumbled. She gave it back to Riku and walked on. Riku shrugged and shoved the stone in his pocket. A few minutes of awkward silence and Jill's grumbling went by slowly. It would have been a little less awkward had Jill actually explained the puzzle. While I contemplated on the reasons she might have for not saying much about it, Celeste started humming a song I never heard before. I stared at her calmly. The song was slowly calming me down. A very sudden hiss made all six of us jump.

"Well, if it isn't our dear friend Yawn the Snake," Jill growled. I stepped back into Francis, who held onto me. Celeste hummed a bit louder, trying to block out the hissing. Riku peered around the corner.

"Hey, I think he's falling asleep…" he whispered. I raised my brow as I thought about it.  
"Celeste! The lullaby!" Jill and I exclaimed at the same time. Celeste stopped for a second. Riku paled and motioned for us to do something.

"What about it?" she asked innocently.

"No no no! Don't stop! That's what's making him fall asleep," Jill explained.

"Yeah. So go right ahead and downright sing it," I continued. Celeste shrugged and continued humming. Yawn swung back and forth in time with the song. It slowly lowered its head. Once its head was on the ground and had stopped moving, Zoey took that opportunity to sneak around it. She made it safely across, motioning for the rest of us to follow. Francis pulled me across next, in the very literal sense. Everyone else had a hard time not laughing at me, considering I was now struggling to stand up. Once we were on the other side, Riku bolted for it. Surprisingly, his shoes didn't wake the giant serpent with its loud clops. Jill and Celeste finally started to cross. When they were in front of the snake, Jill shoved something in its mouth. She pulled Celeste across quickly.

"Run for it," Jill said with an insane grin. Francis and I shared look of confusion and fear and ran for it. A few seconds later, a loud explosion reached our ears.

"That was for Richard!" Jill yelled behind her, picking up pace.

"Great, she's vengeful…" I sighed.

After a while, we reached a safe room. I looked at Jill with an extremely flat look, and sighed inwardly.

"You know there's always a better time for revenge. That and we have more important things to deal with," I growled. Everyone looked at me as I took a deep breath.

"Does anyone happen to remember a certain creature that is after a certain member of S.T.A.R.S and a certain pair of girls?" I asked, twitching slightly.

"Oh right, Nemesis…" Francis sighed.

"You… forgot?" I said, still twitching in annoyance. He nodded slowly. I smacked the back of his head.

"Anyways… I just thought of something. If he's after Jill, Celeste, and me, then isn't it dangerous to have us all in the same group…?" Jill and Celeste instantly got what I meant. Both of them paled. The idea seemed to fly right over the heads of the other three members of the team.

A sudden crack caught our attention. I felt frozen in place. Another crack sounded and something fell from the ceiling. The dust soon cleared behind me. I didn't even turn.

"S.T.A.R.S…" came the horrific voice. I instantly ran for it.  
"_Run like hell_!" I screamed, tripping and running on all fours.

'Talk about motivation…' Francis thought.

"Shut up and run Francis!" I yelled behind me, diving down a flight of stairs. We bolted in every direction we could find, most of us getting separated. By the end of it, it was just me and Jill.

"Wh… where's Celeste? An' Zoey?" I asked, still catching my breath. A small tremor ran up my spine as we heard a highly muffled roar from Nemesis.

"Pr… probably with… Francis an' Riku…" she heaved, falling onto the ground. Both of us were pale beyond belief. We had locked ourselves in a small lab, pushing whatever we could find in front of the doors. The quiet whirr of the still working machines was the only sound above our breathing and our heartbeats. I curled into the fetal position and cried a bit. It was overwhelming. Sure, I loved watching movies and playing games about zombies, but being in a zombie apocalypse was something completely over my area of expertise. I knew the ropes, but being physically there was taking a toll on my head, making me forget my own personal rules. I shook uncontrollably, only truly thinking about Celeste. Jill pulled me into an embrace, seemingly not quite sure what to do. I threw my arms around her and cried into her shoulder. She rubbed my back, curling into me. I felt something wet fall onto my shoulder. Jill started shaking suddenly, tiny sobs escaping her throat. I squeezed her tighter, wrapping my arms upwards. We cried for a good hour in that position. She eventually fell asleep in my arms. I sat up, wiping my red eyes. I watched the few entrances quietly, rubbing her back slowly.

Another hour passed, and I heard a clang from above. Jill stirred a little when my head whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. I instinctively pulled Jill closer into me, growling. The grate of the air vent fell with a loud clang. My tail twitched as my wings flew out of my back and covered Jill protectively. My instinct was acting for me, though I wasn't complaining. I heard a smack of flesh against flesh and a very masculine grumble of annoyance. My ears rose slightly in shock, but the rest of my body was keen on protecting the now shaking ex-S.T.A.R.S member. Francis dropped from the air vent with Zoey, Riku and Celeste, in that order. Francis had his shotgun ready, protectively guarding the rest of the group. They soon notice me in the corner in my highly protective position.

"Vicki!" Celeste and Zoey yelled with joy as I relaxed, my growl going into a sort of canine purr, which sounds extremely weird. Jill stopped shaking but stayed curled into me, acting as if she was just sleeping.

"Where's Jill?" Riku asked. Jill flinched, obviously having been unaware of my wings shielding her from sight.

"She's here, with me. But she needs some more sleep. We got almost no rest thanks to all the horror shows outside," I replied with a fake sense of calm and happiness.

"Err… where..?" Zoey questioned, looking around the fairly bare room. I laughed a bit and lifted one of my wings just enough to let them see her head, but not enough to show her face. I knew Jill didn't want them to know she had been crying, so I kept her close. A very collective sigh escaped the rest of the group as they sat down. I spun a lie for them to know why Jill was curled into me, mostly because they kept asking. Jill had a separate lie, but as I told mine, she rejected hers. I covered her again, rubbing her back and allowing her to slip back into sleep.

We all managed to get a sense of security in the room. Celeste still seemed a bit on edge, Zoey was dead to the world within seconds of curling up to Francis, who was already out, and Riku… well… I still can't tell you what he was doing. Anyways, Celeste curled up next to me at about this time and relaxed a bit.

"So Celeste," I started, catching her attention.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"You think we'll ever even be the same after this?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean to say is, after all of this is said and done, do you think we'll be able to go back to the randomness that consisted of our lives before we met Reno, Rude and Elena in person?"

"That's kind of deep… and way out of my league."

"Ahehheh… I guess it is… Man, I wish Erin was here…"

"Why?"

"She has a thing for knowing what to say on these kinds of times… Like whenever one of us was depressed. She always had a way to make us feel better… so did Coco and Alex… God, I miss them…" I sighed, feeling even more depressed. The two of us were silent for a while.

"Oh! While I remember about this, we found a couple more of the stones," Celeste said out of the blue.

"Oh? Can I see?" I asked. Celeste shook her head. I tilted my head.

"Riku has them," she explained.

"Ah. E caa," I responded. I flinched, a highly confused expression on my face. Celeste stared at me with the same expression.

"Fryd dra ramm fyc dryd?" I demanded of myself.

"Huh?" Celeste tilted her head, staring at me as if I was crazy.

"E tuh'd ajah ghuf fryd myhkiyka drec ec!" I screamed in a panicked tone. Jill began to stir, giving off a slight moan.

"Ur lnyb..." I muttered, trying extremely hard not to wake her up even further. It was too late already.

"What are you two talking about…?" she mumbled, looking up at me with her tired eyes. I glanced at Celeste, who shrugged. I sighed.

"Frydajan dra ramm E's cyoehk… Ugyo, huf drec ec kaddehk naymmo yhhuoehk," I attempted to explain. I cursed a little.

"Whatever that was," Celeste explained for me. An image went through my head.

"Heh heh. Dryd fyc y knayd cged… Tysh ed!" I cursed, shaking my hand in the air.

"Huh…?" Jill tilted her head at the same time as Celeste. I crossed my arms in annoyance. I suddenly got an idea. If my English wasn't working, and speaking sounded weird, then why not try singing? Of course, saying some keywords might have helped as well. Either way, I burst into the first thing that came to mind, the Hymn of the Fayth, as sung during Yuna's first sending. I immediately noticed all of the words were correct. I grumbled a bit, trying to find out what language I was speaking in. of course, I felt as though something was forcing me to speak in this strange language. A hand smacked the back of my head.

"Rao!" I growled, glaring up at Francis who had come up behind me. The older man just shrugged.

"Well, that didn't work…" he sighed.

"Dryd rind, Francis! Yht femm oui hud chayg ib uh... fyed y caluht... oui? Ah ha! E'ja tuha ed! E vekinat ed uid!" I laughed. All I got was stares.

"E's cbaygehk eh Al Bhed!" I exclaimed.

"What about the Al Bhed?" Celeste asked.

"Oui?" I said, trying to get her to catch on.

"What does the word yes have to do with it?" Celeste asked innocently. I scoffed and pouted. After a moment of thinking, I smacked my forehead. I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from my jacket. I shoved a written note in Celeste's face and motioned for her to read it. She looked at it confusedly. I peered at it and turned it around.

"Oh… She's speaking in Al Bhed," Celeste stated. I hurriedly wrote another note and gave it to her.

"She says that we should get moving. She's got a bad feeling," she said. I nodded quickly, looking back and forth. My ears caught a faint sound. My tail twitched lightly. I slowly let go of Jill and let out a whimper. Jill stood and motioned for us to leave.

Riku seemed a bit on edge as I lead them towards a series of cursing.

"I wonder what's… Oh, _now_ I can speak normally, somewhat…" I mumbled. Celeste snickered at me. Jill and Zoey twitched a bit. I now knew that everyone else could hear the cursing as well.

"Come on! That was a game! What makes you think that's going to work here! I told you that we should have just waited for the others to get back!" Claire yelled. I smacked my head at the terrible Metal Gear Solid reference.

"Mega oui ryja yh aqlica du pa yhkno... E's dra uha cdilg fedr y myhkiyka dryd E lyh'd dnyhcmyda," I grumbled, turning around the corner.

"Huh?" she said, calming down a bit.

"She can't speak English," Celeste explained. Kairi looked pale and seemed to require Sora to carry her. Both Bill and PJ were sitting and conversing about something. Obviously, Claire had been busy yelling at Louis, who was trying to shove something into the wall. I took the object from him quickly and looked it over. A grin crept onto my face. I put the stone into its socket and pulled Riku forward.

"What do you want?" he asked in a slightly grumpy tone. I pointed simply to his pockets.

"I think she wants the stones now, Riku," Celeste explained for me. Francis snickered and I rolled my eyes. Riku shrugged and pulled out the three stones. I inspected them before putting them into their sockets. The wall slid open slowly. I motioned everyone to go inside with a smile. PJ smacked the back of my neck on the way in.

"Ow! That hurt! Why'd you…" I began. I thought for a minute as PJ grinned at me. He held a tiny smashed chip in his fingers. I felt the back of my neck. A little bit of metallic and plastic bits rubbed off onto my hand.

"Thank you…" I said before continuing into the room. It felt like I was walking into the Spencer mansion. I followed Jill and Celeste closely. Both of them could feel the terrible aura that surrounded this place. I clung to Celeste fearfully as Jill and PJ inspected the main hall.

"What's with Umbrella and all of these Spencer mansion recreations?" Jill grumbled, causing me to snicker a bit. The room rumbled, small bits of debris falling down from the ceiling.

"This-a-way!" I said in a high pitched voice, walking to the only room to the left. As I remembered, it was a dining room, with seats for about twenty people. I walked to the back and placed my hand on the door knob. Jill placed her hand on my shoulder.

"If you know so much about this place, you know what's probably behind that door, right?" she whispered, leaning closely to my ear. I nodded and pulled out my shotgun. She let go and pulled away. I stole a quick glance to the rest of the group, all of whom were getting more nervous by the second. I sighed and pulled the door open. The hallway was extremely quiet. I checked both ways and turned left. I checked around the corner and found a zombie crouched over a corpse. Before I could shrink away, the zombie caught sight of me. It hobbled over to me, moaning one single word. I lifted up my shotgun and shot its head off. I walked in the opposite direction, blushing like mad.

"Did it say something?" Claire asked out of concern.

"Yeah. Breasts," I growled, blushing even harder. Francis held back a fit of laughter, causing me to smack the back of his head.

"Not. Funny," I grumbled, walking aimlessly up the hallway.

I walked into another room. It was lavishly decorated, but the only thing to my interest was the piece of paper lying on the floor. It was a map leading to a room particular room.

"I think someone is trying to tell us something," Celeste observed.

"Thank you, Cap'n Obvious," I snickered. I showed the map to Jill and let her lead the way. It took us just a little under an hour to get there, thanks to a certain horde and tank. Jill went into the connecting room, motioning for the rest of us to remain where we were. A few minutes later, I heard stone moving against stone and the clicking of the door knob.

"Not again!" Jill cried from the other side of the door. PJ shot the door knob and opened it quickly. Francis and Bill pulled her out from almost being crushed by the stone ceiling.

"Heh heh, Jill Sandwich," I giggled quietly, earning a glare from the still recovering ex-S.T.A.R.S member, now with a shotgun.

After many more puzzles and near death experiences, we found a fairly unstable room. Jill tensed up a lot as we entered it. I looked back at Kairi, who was still as white as a ghost. She seemed like she was half asleep again, kind of drooping over Sora's shoulders. It was kind of cute. Claire and Francis were bickering again, Louis occasionally butting in as a neutral party. Bill, PJ and Riku were more focused on finding a way out then everyone else. Celeste, on the other hand, was having a nice little staring contest with the ceiling. I sighed.  
"Crack!" she chimed. I looked at her funny.

"Crack!" she chimed again.

"Are you on magical weed or something?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.  
"I heard a crack!" she responded.

"You are so much like Diggs," I sighed, just before a loud bang sounded from above. I stared where she was looking at and noticed something, a tiny little crack in the ceiling, from which dust was falling. I paled after the bang got louder.

"Quit having a blue butterfly moment and run!" I yelled. The ever so familiar "S.T.A.R.S" soon followed, causing everyone to bolt. Nemesis dropped down from the ceiling and crashed through the floor. Jill screamed, slipping down the hole after him. Celeste began to fall, but just as I caught her, I was hit in the back by some kind of debris. I fell unconscious as we both fell into the abyss.

I woke up after what felt like only a couple minutes. I pushed some light bits of debris off of my back. Both Celeste and Jill were missing from view. I looked behind me and swore. My guns were in the bag Yuffie gave me and I couldn't reach them. I tried to pull myself out from underneath the massive pile of debris. I heard a moan in front of me. I looked at the source of the sound fearfully. A zombie was walking towards me and I was completely vulnerable. It slowly approached me as I struggled to get free. It got so close I just about taste the very smell of rotten flesh. I screamed pitifully, curling up as if it would protect me. I could hear the sound of shooting and a loud moan. The reanimated corpse dropped to the ground next to me. I looked out from under my pained wing at it.

"Yes, it's definitely dead now," Celeste laughed. She held her Chicago Typewriter up on her shoulder and struck a very Reno-reminiscent pose for me.

"Oh thank God it's you!" I sighed, struggling to get up.

"Hold still, hold still. I'll get you out," she snickered, putting her gun away. She pulled the debris off of me. Once I was out from under the debris, she helped me up and I shook the dust off of me.

"Thank you!" I said as I pulled her into a hug.

"No problem! Let's go find Jill, okay?" she chuckled. I nodded as I let go. I sniffed the air carefully to pick up Jill's sent. I caught a faint whiff of it and followed it, Wolf Link style. We found her under another pile of debris. She actually got the worst of it too, since she was still out cold by the time we completely uncovered her body. Celeste healed us both silently. Jill woke up in the middle of getting healed. She was about to scream when I covered her mouth.

"Shh... We don't know where Nemesis is, or if it's dead, which I doubt it is," I explained as quietly as possible. She nodded slowly, a little shocked by my actions. I looked around a little impatiently, removing my hand from Jill. The room seemed to spin a bit. The dust was still settling from our fall. Now that I had the chance to think about it, I hadn't heard from anyone other than Celeste. It was kind of weird for me. I shook a little with anticipation. Both Jill and Celeste seemed to notice this. Finally, the smell I was looking for floated past my nose. I growled instinctually, but quickly stopped myself.

"Nemesis?" Celeste whispered. I nodded.

The three of us stood quietly, now completely healed. Jill was shaking in fear, but all three of us knew that we had to fight him now. Now was the only chance we had. Celeste stared at a pile of rubble. It shifted as a low growl came from underneath it. I glared at it. Nemesis roared as he burst out of the pile of rubble. He ran towards us, knocking both Celeste and I away before any of us even had the chance to react. Jill ran in a different direction to get some distance between her and Nemesis. Nemesis quickly closed the space and held her up by the neck. She dropped her gun and tried to pull his hand off of her neck. She gasped lightly for air, her feet swinging slowly back and forth. I stood back up on all fours, allowing both of my wings to spread to their full length. Celeste grumbled as she stood, whipping out her Desert Eagle. I roared loudly and shot strait at Nemesis, tackling him to the ground. He dropped Jill in surprise, but threw me off right after he noticed that he just lost his previous prey. I landed safely on a wall, springing to the floor to let go of some of my momentum. Celeste fired a few shots at him then attacked him strait on with her scythes. I ran up to Jill, allowing Celeste to take the beast head on without interruption. Jill's breathing was heavy.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern. She fired behind me and nodded.

"I'll be fine. Go help Celeste," she ordered. I nodded and whipped around, drawing Water Song at the same time. It immediately went ablaze as I ran at Nemesis. I attacked him from behind just as he threw Celeste into a wall. He roared and smacked me away. I roared back at him, creating the challenge. He took my challenge head on. We were locked in a fist and sword fight, buying Celeste just enough time to recover before I was thrown away again into Jill. Jill caught me and fired her shotgun in Nemesis's face as soon as he got close enough. He howled in pain, clutching his face.

"Why isn't Celeste sucking out his soul or whatever that thing she does is?" Jill demanded, running around Nemesis.

"He must be possessed by heartless. Heartless souls are bad for her," I explained. A wave of bullets rushed towards Nemesis, just barely impaling his skin. Celeste's pupils had dilated.

"She's pissed," I gulped. Celeste rushed up to Nemesis, drawing cuts on her own skin with her finger. All of the drawn wounds appeared on Nemesis's body, completely cutting off one of his arms. Jill quickly put me down, allowing me to put Water Song away. I pushed my open palm forward, a strong rush of wind slamming right into Nemesis. Jill stood back, shooting her Samurai edge like crazy. As I ran forward at Nemesis, I noticed something different about Celeste. Her eyes seemed to be glowing, and there was a faint silhouette of a large pair of wings coming from her back. Nemesis shot his tentacles at me and Celeste. We chopped them off on our way to him. At the same time, we slammed our legs into his solar plexus. He flew through a wall, revealing another laboratory behind him.

"S.T.A.R.S!" he screamed, bursting out of the rubble. I grabbed Celeste's arms and swung her towards Nemesis. She curled up into a ball and spun letting her scythes act like a spinning blade. Nemesis took the full brunt of the blow to the chest before punching Celeste into a wall again.

"Celeste!" Jill and I both cried. I was about to run to her when I saw her rise from the dust. She was a hell of a lot different. Huge black wings flowed from her back and she seemed to be breathing heavily. Her feathers fell lightly, turning into smoke as they hit the ground. She looked up slowly at Nemesis as her wings rose above her head. The crosses in her eyes seemed to dilate as she burst forward. She tackled Nemesis down to the floor and sliced at his body. I hung back, a little scared of Celeste as she tore at nemesis. He eventually managed to fling her away as he tried to recover from the onslaught.

"Where's a rail gun when you need it?" Jill muttered, completely unaffected by Celeste.

"Where you don't need it?" I suggested, earning a smirk from the ex-S.T.A.R.S member. Celeste pounded nemesis into the floor. The floor cracked and Celeste jumped away.

"_Toxic_!" he cried as he plummeted down into the abyss. A collective sigh emerged from the three of us.

"He'll be back," I said in my best impression of the Terminator. Jill and Celeste snickered a little. All of a sudden, an alarm blared and red lights began flashing.

"Self destruct sequence activated. All Umbrella personnel evacuate to Train Alexia-2409," a voice said blandly over the intercom systems.

"'Cause _everything_ and _anything_ related to Resident Evil _has _to end in an explosion," I grumbled. Jill looked at me funny.

"Don't ask," Celeste sighed. Jill shrugged and ran for the door. Celeste latched onto my arm and burst after her.

"By the way Celeste, nice wings," I complimented.

"Thanks. They hurt," she replied.

After a couple of minutes, we found the rest of the group, with Claire and Francis fighting again.

"Okay, which one of you two set this place to blow?" I asked. Claire and Francis both pointed at each other. Zoey and Kairi sighed and simultaneously smacked their foreheads.

"Lot of help you two are," Jill growled. I sighed. As if late on cue, Chris walked out of a room, holding a detonation button. Jill and I glared at him. Chris placed the detonator in his back pocket.

"What?" he asked as Rebecca walked out from behind him.

"_You set the damn thing off without checking for survivors?_" Jill screamed at him. Chris was silent for a moment.

"I found Rebecca," he stated, pointing to the young medic. I slapped my forehead.

"I'm going to kill you one of these days, Chris," Jill sighed.

"Huh?" Celeste Claire and Rebecca said at the same time.

"Now that we know who did it, let's get out of here before this place blows up with us in it," PJ ordered. We all nodded and ran for the exit.

Chris led most of the way to the train. Jill led us the rest of the way. We heard a roar just as most of us entered the train.

"Oh come on! We don't have time for this!" I growled. I rushed everyone to get inside the train before hopping inside myself. Chris started up the train and just as it started to pull away, Mr. X came into view.

"Just die already!" Claire screamed whipping out a rocket launcher and firing it multiple times at the creature. Chris just ended up in a moment of shock as he stared at his little sister. His jaw fell open, slowly turning towards the group.

"What happened to my sister?" He asked, as it took a while to register with him. The look on his face was utterly priceless. I simply shrugged and pointed up, motioning towards the sky not the ceiling of the train.

"Steve happened," I said with a calm manner, though inside I was trying not to laugh at his facial expression. Everyone was biting their tongues, so they wouldn't burst in laughter at that point of time because they had a Tyrant to deal with and Claire was way too trigger-happy for her own good. Jill and PJ grabbed the rocket launcher from Claire. Claire struggled against them both, kicking Francis in the process. Celeste focused on Mr. X and drew a line all around her neck. The Tyrant's head fell to the ground as the body slumped forward.

"That was way too easy," I observed as we pulled away. Celeste nodded. The train gained speed and rushed away. About five minutes down the tunnel, a loud crash sounded from the back of the train.

"Come on Celeste, let's check it out…" I sighed. Celeste shrugged and walked out to the back of the train. We were greeted with a fully mutated version of G. Celeste and I both swore loudly.

"Heartless infected?" I asked.

"Yuppers," she responded as we both turned around and ran. I tried to open the door.

"Damned electronic locks. We're locked out!" I growled.

"Let us in!" Celeste shouted.

"I can't unlock it!" PJ yelled from the other side of the door. That comment made something clicked in our heads.

"To the roof!" Celeste and I cried at the same time. We scrambled up the ladder. Using some bars for support, we travelled to the front of the train. I quickly opened the roof panel and dropped inside.

"Big red button… big red button… where's that damned big red button?" I said, searching for a particular button. Celeste dropped down and searched with me.

"Are you sure it's not the green one on the wall that says "Emergency" that you're looking for?" Celeste asked, pointing to the wall behind me.

"That works!" I exclaimed as I slammed my fist into it. Celeste opened the door quickly.

"Okay! Everybody out!" she yelled. The train came to a stop and we all bolted for the exit to the tunnel. The train exploded just as we made it out. Smoke and fire soon followed, flowing upwards into the sky. There was a collective sigh throughout the whole group.

We dropped down to the grass, watching things blow up in the city. All of a sudden, Jill's gun began to glow. She let it go in shock as it lifted up into the air.  
"It's the gun of +50 Holiness!" Chris cried, earning a slap from Jill and Claire. I chuckled. Sora summoned his keyblade as an image of a crown appeared under his feet. The Berretta pointed to the sky and shot out a beam of light, creating the outline of a keyhole. Sora flipped backwards and pointed to the sky as soon as he landed. After a quick flash of light, the gun returned to Jill's hands.

"Now how come that didn't happen earlier? And what was that?" Jill asked.

"Don't know on the first one," Celeste began.

"On the second, Sora just locked your world," PJ finished.

"Anyways, that means we have to leave now too. By the way, nice moves Sora," I said, mildly disappointed that we had to go.

"You'll come back and visit, right?" Zoey asked.

"Maybe," Riku answered.

"We'll try," Kairi giggled.

After a long emotional moment of goodbyes, hugs, handshakes and a couple of salutes, Jill pulled me and Celeste off to the side.

"You two watch your backs, okay?" she told us.

"Don't worry Jill, we will. You survive long enough to see us again, okay?" Celeste laughed.

"No worries, I will. And take these with you. They might help some day," Jill chuckled, "I'm not sure what they are, but I think that you guys can figure out how to use them." She placed a pair of amulets in our hands. Celeste's was in the shape of a skull, and mine looked like a cherry blossom.

"Come on you two! Time to go!" PJ called as the gummi ship landed nearby. Celeste and I gave Jill one last hug and left. Sora climbed into the driver's seat. I made sure I was close enough to provide instruction where needed. Once we took off, I remembered something.

"Aw man! I meant to ask Jill about my lock!" I cried, slapping my forehead due to my idiocy.

"Don't worry, we'll get another chance. Right PJ?" Kairi told me.

"Probably," PJ responded. And with that, we flew off into the stars to the next world.


	18. Chapter 18

Sora wasn't as bad a driver as I thought he was, he even managed to take a few heartless out with some lasers as we were driving. Though that was one of the last things on my mind. I now had wings and I was still trying to figure out what was up with the documents. If they were about many different people from different worlds, then why where they all in Raccoon city? Either it's some other organization that has the ability to travel to other worlds, or they were all communicating for the purpose of eradicating all possible threats. The thought made me shiver; I've only just found out about it and I'm already in hot water.

"Hey Celeste you're being really quiet you okay?" Kairi asked as she saw me deep in thought. I didn't want anyone to worry so I said something completely off topic.

"I was just thinking about how much I would love to eat one of my sister's bagels right now." To which Vicki laughed and P.J. smirked since they were the only ones that got it, but from Vicki's aura I knew she knew I was lying.

"Hey Vicki something's been bugging me." I said as she calmed down a bit from laughing.

"And what is that?" She looked like she was ready for me to make another joke.

"Are you still infected?" Her facial expression sobered up and she thought for a moment.

"I think so but I don't think the virus will affect me much anymore. I mean, does it look like my flesh is decaying?"

"Yeah, but if you start talking about breasts like the one that jumped you I might have to kill you." I laughed out loud as her face went red and growled at me and said to never bring it up again. In all truth these perverse jokes made it feel like I was home again, the only difference is my sister wasn't making disgusted faces at me.

"Hey guys I found a new world." Sora stated as we all looked to the window.

"The radar reads 'Death City' " Riku stated as he looked at the world. I suddenly shouted with excitement.

"Soul Eater means souls!" Everyone stared at me as I suddenly became menacing. "Good thing too, I've been getting quite hungry." Everyone inched away even P.J. to my amusement.

We went down towards the school which was already drawing quite a crowd due to our odd gummi ship. As we exited Shinigami-san came to the gate to, I guess, greet us.

"Who are you and what is your purpose here?" He asked as Sora exited last since he had to lock the ship.

Vicki I can smell the souls, I'm getting hungry. I whined

Well you're gunna have to wait. She hissed.

"Hey what are you saying over there!" A kid with blue hair came up to us and got in my face.

"Nice to see you too Black Star." I grinned inwardly as he stepped back shocked.

"How do you know my name?" He demanded as Vicki hit the back of my head.

Now we have to explain everything to them...Celeste are you listening? She stared at me as I aimlessly walked over to the crowd.

The smell of souls goes in here. I said as I walked away.

"Celeste! Get back here!" P.J. yelled. As I turned to look at them I walked into someone else. I turned around to see Death the Kid.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded as Patty and Liz came up behind him. Sora ran up and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Sorry she doesn't normally do this." Sora said as he led me back towards the group who were explaining the situation to Shinigami-san.

"So you're here to lock our world from heartless?" He asked as I made it back to the group.

"And given the circumstances that you're under the witches probably have them." P.J. said as I finally caught what I was looking for.

I quickly ran up behind Kid and jumped up in the air and ingested the soul that I had scented earlier.

Celeste get back here right now! Vicki shouted gaining everyone's attention.

"Is she your death scythe?" Maka asked Vicki pointing to me.

"Huh? No why'd you think that?" As I came up beside her she hit me in the head.

"Well you talk in the same language and she just ate a soul." Soul said standing next to her.

"Which tasted awesome by the way! Much better than a zombie soul." I quickly walked towards P.J. to avoid further physical abuse.

"Well then we'll let you stay at the institute for a bit and let you help us, but first as a precaution I would like all of you to visit Stein to get a check-up." And with that he led us into the institute.

Well, the building was even more bizarre then what was portrayed in the manga; it was amazing that anyone knew their way in it at all. There were many twists and turns in it and to make matters more unnerving, we were going deeper into the castle the further we went. After what seemed like forever we stopped infront of a door that looked the same as every other door we passed. Shinigami-san then knocked on it and opened automatically looking at our odd group.

"Are these new students?" He asked as he examined Vicki's tail.

"These people are here to destroy heartless and help with our witch problem, I just wanted you to give them a check-up just in case." And with that, Shinigami-san left us for Stein to deal with.

"So, care to explain the situation in better detail?" He lazily asked as he started twisting the weird screw thing in his head.

P.J. nodded and started to explain as the rest of us explored his lab out because of a lack of anything better to do.

"Hey Sora, I dare you to drink what's in this test tube." I said as I held a test tube with an eerie glowing substance in it.

"Umm I think I'll pass." He said walking towards Riku and Kairi who were looking at some books. I walked over to Vicki who was looking at some computer screens.

"What are you up to?" I said peering over her shoulder.

"Holy crap! Wear a bell or something so I know you're coming." She said as I started to laugh remembering she said the same thing to my sister. I was still trying to get over the fact she didn't share her blood with me but she was still like my sister.

"So. Who wants to go first?" Stein asked as he and P.J. joined the rest of us.

"Oh make Riku go first!" I suggested as I turned back to the computer.

As Riku went to be examined. Vicki pulled up a document that seemed like it hadn't been looked at for ages.

"Hey it says that this file was made a long time ago, and it's about key bearers." I stated as we continued reading.

"Well seeing as there were key bearers before the three we're with it makes sense that this world has been visited by them before." P.J. said as he started looking at some books near Sora and Kairi.

"I'll have to read that sometime then I guess." Stein said as he started hooking up Riku to some weird machines I couldn't make out.

"Oh! Vicki look for files of us!" I randomly said, as I went over and started to read over P.J. shoulder.

"Which one of you two is next?" Stein asked as he looked at Vicki and me.

"Guess I'll go." I said as I walked over to the weird contraptions. It was weird, with these he was able to tell us all about Riku, Sora, and Kairi's powers; but when P.J. was examined, he refused to tell us anything. I was wondering if P.J. didn't want anything known about him.

As he hooked up the machine he kept talking about how I might as well be a death scythe seeing as I had all the characteristics. After though he stopped as he examined me closer.

"Would you show me your scythes?" He asked as he looked at a screen. The screen had my bio he said he was able to get from my memory. I nodded in response and held my arms out as the ribbons on my wrists wrapped around an invisible bar, then the blades popped out the top. Interesting was his only response.

"Interesting? Were better than that!" My black scythe suddenly shouted. I stared at it in disbelief. Suddenly both detached from my arms and turned into people.

The black scythe turned into a girl with a dark Lolita outfit and long black hair, she also had eyes that were completely black, and the two black ribbons usually on my wrists were on hers. The white scythe was a boy who looked a bit younger than her with short white hair and completely white eyes. His outfit was a pair of long jeans, and a white t-shirt with a grey vest over top, with the white ribbons on his wrists.

"We could own you any day of the week buster!" The girl boasted proudly.

"Maybe you shouldn't say that Tsukiyomi. You don't even know how strong he is." The little boy mumbled holding on to her sleeve. Which I thought looked adorable.

"Shut up Amaterasu." Tsukiyomi snapped at the smaller boy.

"Umm...Are you my death scythes?" I asked as Stein ignored them and finished my examination. He walked over and started to explain something to P.J. probably what he examined from me since I needed to control my scythes.

"Yeah! I'm Tsukiyomi and this is my brother Amaterasu." Tsukiyomi stated proudly as she pointed to her brother, who gave a meek wave in reply. "Geez, you're never going to make friends if you stay quiet like that." Tsukiyomi complained as she rolled her eyes. Amaterasu shyly walked up to me and went back to his scythe from.

"I just don't like being near lots of people s'all." Was his last reply before he turned back into a ribbon.

"Hmph. That's a poor excuse." Tsukiyomi said, then followed suit.

"So Celeste. I found something quite interesting about your powers." Stein said as he walked back over. "You actually use souls to power your abilities, did you know that?"

"I use the souls? Well that explains why I'm always hungry." It seemed to make perfect sense to me.

"So you not only burn out souls when you fight, you can also use them as an alternative life source, meaning you won't ever need to eat or sleep again. Now Vicki it's your turn to be examined. Oh and one more thing. Your body can actually fuse souls together to make hearts, the heartless I heard so much about may find that irresistible, so to speak." He finished as he hooked Vicki up to the contraptions.

"So you can make hearts?" Sora was already up in my face about it.

"Yeah I guess so. Too bad the nobodies aren't around." I mumbled as I looked at Vicki's info via the monitor. It's funny really; Organization XIII was my favourite part of the kingdom hearts games.

"Interesting. Vicki I'm going to take a blood sample of the infection showing up on the screen." Stein said as he took out a needle.

"No! That's a bad thing to do." Vicki said shaking her head.

"And why would that be?" He asked as he got ready to grab a sample out anyway.

"It's a bad thing that makes you a zombie, really bad." She half whined trying to stop him from taking the sample.

"It's just research." He reasoned about to draw blood.

"You wouldn't want to accidentally raise a pandemic would you ?" Riku asked as a last effort to help Vicki who was obviously getting increasingly uncomfortable.

"It would make things interesting." Stein said as he put the needle in her arm.

"Stein it's smart not to mess with things from other worlds. You should know about natural world orders." Shinigami-san said as he entered.

"How'd you come so conveniently?" Sora asked relieved that Vicki was saved.

"It is my school after all." Shinigami-san said in a cheerful manner before just leaving. I could sense everyone sweat drop.

"Well there goes good research material." Stein muttered putting the needle away. "Anyway, I'll show you all where you'll be sleeping."

We had all gotten our own rooms since the school was so big, luckily all the rooms were still close together. It was comfortable to me to know there were at least people I knew nearby. The room wasn't much, just a bed, dresser, and a bathroom through a door to my left. I flopped down on my bed and tried to picture my family, the funny thing was I couldn't picture them without P.J. All this time he was something else all together, yet, it seems I will always declare him family to me. With a sigh I went to bed.

_I was running through the forest, breathing hard as I tried to hear anything behind me. What exactly was I running from? As if on cue I smacked face first into something soft yet strong and fell over._

_"Be calm young pup, I mean you no harm."_

_"Who are you?" I looked at the wolf and then noticed a shadowed figure beside it. I couldn't tell the gender either since they were talking to me through my mind._

_"I am a part of you, yet you are a part of me." They simply said._

_"Interesting." I said half-meaningful_

_"I am just part of something big you will be faced with in the future; I have come to warn you something is in the waking world that you'll need to take care of. Something you can rightfully fix only if you're willing to kill for souls. But, you must also realize killing is not the way to go about things."_

_My head started spinning as I subconsciously started to pet the wolf. "So I should kill, yet I must not?" What were they talking about?_

_"Is there someone I must kill to keep another alive?" I asked half expecting an answer._

_"I cannot tell you but I can tell you this. If you take many souls of the fallen, you'll create something stronger. But you should beware of this danger to yourself and others. You'll become a great target, as well as target others." Then the figure started to vanish._

_"Wait! What are you talking about?" I shouted as I caught a glimpse of their clothing underneath. "Wait are you-"_

_"Who I am exactly is of no importance, now you better wake up before you fall prey to your nightmare." And they vanished completely. As the wolf sprinted away I turned around and screamed._

I woke in cold sweat and immediately felt something was wrong. I quickly changed and opened the window to crawl out, as I jumped from the window I landed on something underneath.

"OMF!" All I saw was silver hair.

"Riku?" I asked.

"Celeste?" I quickly jumped off him.

"Do you sense it too?" I asked as I started to walk beside him.

"Yeah something suddenly didn't feel right." And we continued in silence, crawling along the shadows.

While we were in the alleys I caught a glimpse of a tail and a pair of wings. I quickly rounded the corner to see Vicki.

"Vicki behind you." I whispered in her ear in a creepy manner. I saw her pale then look at me with the corner of her eye.

"Do that again and I will kill you." She grumbled.  
"I'm guessing you sensed the presence too." Riku said walking up to us.

"Yeah, more or less." Vicki said as she stopped us. "And as far as I can tell, what we're looking for is right around this corner. We all peered around.

"Don't worry; I'll have this town's hearts taken in a snap, just make sure you keep up your end of the bargain." It was Medusa-san.

"Who's the other one she's with?" Vicki asked as I gasped.

"It's Vexen!" I accidentally shouted.

"Who's there?" Shit, we were spotted.

"Nice going." Riku mumbled as I ran out to confront them.

"So it's you guys." Vexen said uninterested. "Where are the rest of you?"

"On they're way." Vicki suddenly said. She probably read their mind.

"Hmm, maybe I could make an experiment of the other one you two were with while I'm here." He said thoughtfully.

"Don't go near my brother!" I shouted rushing forward without thinking, releasing Amaterasu in his scythe form and throwing it towards him.

"You think that would work? Stupid girl." He said as he summoned his shield and turned it into an ice blade, knocking me easily out of the way.

"Forgot about that." I mumbled darkly.

"So it is true. You're full of memories of other worlds and people. Maybe I'll dissect you as well." He said as Sora, P.J., and Kairi came running towards us.

"Celeste can you stay outta trouble for five minutes?" P.J. said as I got up from the wall and walked over to them, almost completely cured.

"Celeste, use your power on him quickly!" Sora shouted as he whipped out his keyblade anyway.

"I can't." I said suddenly remembering my dream and not wanting to kill anything till I figured it out.

"Let me guess." Vexen said uninterested. "You figured out that something is up that requires souls and you want to know why right? I could tell you if you come with me and bring your friend and 'brother' along with you. I could even tell you where you originate from."

I stopped in my tracks. "You could tell me everything?" I said. I wasn't contemplating whether to go with him or not. I was getting angry everyone knew about us except us. "How could you know about us?" I clenched my fists. "Why does everyone know about me but me!" I shouted as I found it harder to breathe. Suddenly I could feel wandering souls coming and being absorbed into me.

"Celeste calm down." P.J. said, trying to be as calm as possible.

"But all my life I thought it was human. I don't know what I am, what my history is, Nothi-" Suddenly I felt something strong pulsate inside me that wasn't my heart. I suddenly passed out.


	19. Chapter 19

"Celeste!" I screamed as I tackled the death angel to the ground. She was unconscious, but safe from the oncoming icicles. I growled at Vexen and Medusa. Looking back to Celeste, I calmed down slightly and pulled her away from the scene as everyone else took over the fight. I soon managed to get Celeste far enough away to safely pull her into my protective position. I was angry and confused. I pulled out my amulet that Jill gave me and sighed.

"We're in for one hell of a night," I sighed, looking up at the moon.

Soon, I was singing the Hymn of the Fayth over and over while I stroked Celeste's feathered wings. She started dreaming and out of respect, I stayed out. She was twitching violently. The sounds fight began to get louder all of a sudden. I picked Celeste up again and started moving.

"Damn you Vexen. Why'd you have to set her off?" I said to myself. The corner of a building exploded about me. I let Celeste slide down to the ground. I raised my arms towards the debris. In a controlled tornado, the debris was thrown away. A few heartless dropped around us. I grinned wildly.

"Well hello kiddies. It seems that you have caught me in a terrible mood. Care to leave me be?" I sneered in an attempt to scare them off. My tail twitched violently as Vexen dropped behind me.

"So, the Nobody won't let me leave without a fight, hm?" I growled, turning around. Celeste woke up as I pulled off my jacket and shove it into my bag. I used the bandana around my neck to tie my hair back. Celeste stood slowly as she summoned Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu. Vexen got into a fighting stance.

"Come on pup, give me your best shot," Vexen hissed.

"Why should we? You've got nothing on us," Celeste sneered. Vexen grinned as he and the heartless proceeded to attack us. I pulled out Water Song quickly and held it out in front of me.

"Mizu! L'eau! Chanson! Uta!" I chanted before I let the sword go. It transformed into a tall woman. Her silver hair descended to the middle of her back. Her outfit comprised of a light jacket, a tank top, jeans and sneakers. Her necklace was the charm normally on the pommel, a little heart piece. She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. In an instant, she burst into flames, which in turn threw back the heartless. She looked at Vexen with distaste.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't dear old Even. Trying to kill my partner this time?" she snarled. I looked into her mind. She had an obvious hatred, but now I knew it was deep routed. I stood next to her. She swiftly pulled out her arm and placed it over my shoulder. Celeste stood on my other side, ready to rip Vexen apart.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you of all people in this life. Taking orders from a kid, I see," Vexen scoffed.

"The old man's got good stuff," Celeste mumbled to which Tsukiyomi snickered. Water Song just grinned wickedly at Vexen.

"I don't care. At least her name can't be rearranged to 'Mansex'," Water Song replied.

"Burn…" I chuckled.

"Well, as much of a pleasure it is to see you again, I do believe it is time I took these two out of your care," Vexen hissed.

"Can't let you do that, Vexen. Especially after what you did to me," Water Song growled, licking her lips.

'Back me up, okay?' she thought as she ran at Vexen. Vexen summoned his shield again, just in time to block a few punches from Water Song. Water Song went ablaze as she continued attacking relentlessly. Water Song flipped backwards up onto the wall and over Vexen, sending down a rain of fire. Vexen dodged just in time.

'So what, we sit tight and wait while I manage two heartbeats?' Celeste thought.

"No. You use a weapon and help out Water Song," I responded.

"But the heartless-" Celeste began.

"No worries. Sora's got it covered," I snickered. Just then, Sora jumped down from a roof and smacked some heartless into a wall. Celeste sighed and proceeded to attack Vexen. I grinned and pushed a wall of wind into the Nobody. He flew backwards out of the alley. Water Song slammed her fist into the ground, causing a wave of fire to rush after him. I pulled out my Berretta and fired a few rounds after him. He had just enough time to dodge the bullets. The wave of fire crashed down onto him. Vexen jumped out of the flames and threw some ice needles at Water Song, Celeste and I. while Celeste dodged and Water Song melted them, I was hit with the needles. I scoffed and shook them out, sending them into all directions. I put the Berretta away and howled, shattering them into tiny little pieces. I sucked in as much air as I could. Celeste and Water Song caught the hint, quickly covering their ears. I let out a high-pitched shriek, which caused Vexen to fall to the ground screaming. Incidentally, this caused a heart to pop out of Celeste. Vexen ran for it and swiped it before the rest of us could. I flew after him, but he disappeared in a puff of smoke. A soul flew into Celeste. She sighed tiredly.

"C'mon. Let's go back to the school," Water Song chuckled, picking Celeste up with relative ease. Sora came out of the alley soon after, confirming that there were no more heartless in the area. I gave Water song and we headed back.

"Alright, Water Song. You need to spill some details," I said after we had gotten Celeste into a bed and Sora back into his room.

"About what?" she asked, leaning against a wall.

"How you know Vexen. And what the hell did he do to you?" I answered. She flinched a little.

"Considering your tone of voice, I'm not getting out of this, am I?" she sighed.

"No, you can't. I need to know. So does Celeste," I replied, giving Celeste a glance. Celeste rolled over, obviously still conscious and listening. Water Song sighed again.

"Alright. Lessee… it started a while before Xemnas went mad with power. You know about the experiments they did on the darkness in people's hearts, right?" she began. I gave her a nod.

"Okay, well, I was one of the test subjects. I had a strong enough heart that I didn't become a heartless. Instead, I was consumed and gained my water and fire powers. I escaped, almost becoming a Nobody myself. Although I got far enough away with the use of my powers, I was 'killed', in a way. My body was burnt into ashes, and washed away with rain. Kind of feels ironic that those are the elements used. Anyways, I was sealed into the body of a sword before my heart, or in the case of our Peeping Tom, 'soul' was absorbed by the heartless. After that, I, as the sword, was left in that shrine thing. We merged, my body becoming the sword. Then after many years, you picked me up. I kinda owe my life to you. Almost went insane. By the way, Black Star, you're a terrible assassin. You're too noisy," Water Song explained. She threw a book over my head. It smacked right into the young meister, causing him to fall face first onto the ground. Tsubaki sighed and walked out of the shadows. Water Song nodded to Tsubaki as she returned to her sword form. I sheathed her and stared in annoyance at Black Star. Celeste sat up a little. She was still weak from making the heart.

"What are you doing here, Black Star?" I demanded, my tail twitching as if I was about to kill him.

"How do you know my name..?" he asked, standing up quickly. I picked the book off of the ground and hit him with it.

"You don't pay attention enough. Basically, everything that's happened here so far was turned into a manga where we… grew up. We, as in me and Celeste. The manga was used for our entertainment. Start listening more. You might actually learn something," I said, putting the book away. I then rushed both Tsubaki and Black Star out of the room.

"How are you feeling Celeste?" I asked, pulling a papou fruit out of my pack. I tossed it on her chest. She cut it in half and ate one half, shoving the other half into her pack.

"Better. I wonder what Vexen did with that heart…" she sighed.

"They can't collect hearts, so he either absorbed it or lost it." I shrugged. I pulled out a few more fruits and slowly ate them. Celeste took a couple, munching on them as well. Unconsciously, I put the cherry blossom pendant around my neck. The two of us sat in silence for a while, just thinking. An explosion caught our attention.

"We should probably run in Sora style," Celeste said out of almost complete nowhere. I nodded, chuckling to myself.

"And speaking of the devil, Sora, what's going on out there?" I asked as the spiky-haired kid slid into the room. He looked like he'd just seen the end of the world.

"The witches are attacking the school!" he cried. Celeste and I stared at each other and sighed. I opened the window.

"Wanna try flying with those new wings of yours? Also, whether you like it or not, you're probably going to have to suck out a couple souls," I told Celeste. Celeste shifted nervously.

"I'm okay with the souls, but flying-?" she started.

"Flap your wings as hard as possible, but not as fast. And it's not hard to learn. Just think of each wing beat as a song beat. Helps me," I laughed, jumping out the window before she could respond. For some reason, I felt that with this particular battle, flight would be our advantage.


	20. Chapter 20

To say I was tired and weak was an understatement. It felt like I had worked myself to the bone and then got the crap beaten outta me when I was down. I wasn't an overly 'happy camper' as some people would put it. But none the less, I took off into the sky, a few souls might do me good and speak of the devil, there were some just flying on their brooms now.

"Like dinner on a kabob." I thought darkly as I dived right in and devoured all before me. "Yeah! That sure beats fruit!" I yelled happily as I glided through the air.

"Celeste!" Vicki shouted as she grabbed me and through me out of harm's way. A ball of energy just missed us as I steadied myself and dove down into the crowd of enemies; releasing Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu and swinging wildly and realizing that there wasn't any heartless.

Vicki wasn't this invasion a collaborative effort between Medusa and Vexen? There aren't any heartless, not even a trace of nobodies. I yelled as I started to ingest souls.

Celeste! There hidden in there! Vicki shouted as I felt a dark aura surround me. _Shit._

I suddenly burst forth with a dark aura surrounding me and my eyes glowing yellow. I started clawing and biting at anything in my way as I tore through to the other end of the battle field were Medusa was. As I was causing chaos I could see everything clearly but I couldn't stop or control myself at all. Then as I neared the altar, the heartless power wore down. I looked at Medusa and couldn't believe it; she was fighting Vexen.

Vicki how far away is everyone? I shouted as I hid behind some destroyed buildings to not interrupt the fight.

Maka's team is fighting the witches, Sora, Riku, and Kairi are getting a group of heartless that just appeared and I can't find P.J. She yelled back as she came around to my hiding spot.

"You said I'd have complete control of the heartless! Why is it so weak?" Medusa! That explains why there wasn't as many, she was unable to control them.

"I told you before! The deal's off, you took the heart from me!" So that's why Vexen was still here, he didn't absorb the heart.

"Well that's just too bad for you isn't it? But you never said anything about me not taking it and using it for the heartless. Not that you told me anything about what you'd get from the deal." Medusa said as she jumped at Vexen and using her power launched Vexen straight at her and punched him hard in the gut.

"I think I'm starting to feel bad for the guy." I murmured as I went out of my cover to confront them. "Hey cut that out kids; this is no time to be fighting over pointless disputes. We are at war after all." I finished gesturing to the battle that was going on behind me.

"YOU! You're the one that gave him the heart aren't you?" She suddenly placed an arrow under me and I went flying through the air. She took this opportunity to stab me through the gut with her hand. "This'll teach you to break a deal with me." She spat at Vexen.

"Do you think that's polite? Using me to get back at someone because you didn't get your way? It seems pretty pathetic you me." I surprisingly kept my voice strong as I said it.

"A girl like you should learn when to shut up." Medusa growled as she flung me back towards Vicki.

_"Go now Vicki! Sneak attack!"_ I thought as I concentrated on healing the huge hole in my gut.

Vicki jumped out and used her screech on Medusa, I looked over to Vexen and he already had his hands on his ears. "He learns fast." I mumbled while getting up.

Medusa was just recovering when Vicki manipulated the wind to pin her to the far wall.

Hey, I'll be nice; you can have the honors. I said as I walked over to Vexen.

Gladly. and suddenly Vicki was infront of Medusa, with Water Song protruding from Medusa's gut.

How is your friend alive? She spat trying to wiggle free while looking at me with disgust.

"She's an immortal." Vexen suddenly responded making me jump, because I forgot how close he was.

"But that's impossible. A weakling like her...Even her friend here. What are you?" Her voice was weakening.

"Just shut up." Vicki growled as she effortlessly flung the blade up and cut Medusa in half from the waist up. Blood flew from her fatal wound as she wasted her last breath on a pitiful scream.

"How can something so gruesome be so beautiful?" I wondered as I started to walk forward towards Vicki, who was amazingly not covered in blood.

What should we do about Vexen? Vicki asked as I looked back over my shoulder and took a good look at him.

I don't know, I mean if we let him live, he'll probably come back; if we kill him, the others will probably come after us. I turned to face Vexen

"But I honestly don't think killing is the answer now." I frowned remembering my dream:

_"I have come to warn you something is in the waking world that you'll need to take care of. Something you can rightfully fix only if you're willing to kill for souls. But, you must also realize killing is not the way to go about things."_

"Is there someone I must kill to keep another alive?" I said out loud remembering my response in my dream.

"What are you talking about Celeste?" Vicki asked as she came up behind me.

"_She_ told me in a riddle that I'd be able to take souls to create a heart, and that in doing so I'd endanger myself and others. So who is it I really need to protect and keep alive?" I zoned out as I talked, and it slowly turned into a whisper as I finished talking.

"Who said that?" Either I wasn't thinking of the woman, or Vicki just wasn't reading my mind.

"It's probably her subconscious or she might actually be receiving communication from someone with immense power." Vexen explained as he walked up.

"It can't be subconsciously. I can't see how I'd know any of this." Vicki got infront of me protectively.

"Don't go near her or I will kill you." she growled darkly.

"Isn't it really her choice? If you both come with me quietly I could tell you all that the person you think is your brother is hiding from you." He took another step forward. "You're past, family, history, and powers, even what your real parents named you." I looked up almost thinking of going with him.

"Stop what you're doing Vexen!" P.J. yelled as he came running up behind me and putting his hand on my shoulder. "You have nothing that could convince them to go with you." I suddenly lowered my face.

"Let go of me." I growled. P.J. seemed surprised, but didn't let go.

"Celeste what's wrong?"

"Get your hands off me!" I shouted turning around. "Do you really know more than you're letting on? Are you leading us on this wild goose chase purposely just for fun?" I was absolutely pissed. Why did this have to happen? I was ready to kill what was left of my family if I didn't find any answers.

_"Stop!"_

Wha-

_"Don't listen to him! He's leading you on! Even if you go with him and find out all you can where will you end up? You're too valuable to let go to your home world, but you shouldn't kill them either. Help them find their light."_

And with that the voice disappeared. It didn't sound the same as the one that talked to me in my dream. This one seemed more innocent. I fell to my knees gripping my head.

"Celeste!" I knew that Voice was Vicki's

"Why would I lead you on a wild goose chase? I have nothing to gain from it." P.J. said softly as he bent down and picked me up off the ground.

"I'm sorry" I sobbed as I held on to him and looked towards Vexen, he was gone. "Another problem for another day." I mumbled.

"Geez, what a wuss." Vicki mumbled as we walked towards the wreckage to heal anyone that was injured.

"Wow! You can sure do wonders even I can't comprehend." Stein observed as he moved his not-so-broken-anymore arm.

"So you're leaving pretty quickly? It seems like we didn't even get to know you." Maka said as we stood in the school.

"We could always throw them a party." Black star said as he put his hand behind his head.

"That sounds like a good idea, for once." Kid said walking up.

"Then it's settled! A farewell party for our friends tonight." Patty shouted as she dragged her sister and Kid down the hall. Sweat drop moment.

The party was pretty big, it seemed like everyone was there. Must like parties. They had been nice enough to let us borrow some of their dress clothes to wear to it. Sora and Riku were wearing basic black suits which actually didn't look as bad as I thought they would. P.J. was wearing a dark navy blue one, which was funny seeing as how different it was from his normal _black_ one. Kairi was wearing a cute albeit short red dress with spaghetti straps. I was wearing a nice long black dress that went to the middle of my lower leg with a slit running up towards the middle of my thigh and the top just had some loose straps. I decided to let Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi out and Amaterasu was wearing some dress shoes, nice black pants and a white suit shirt, while his sister was just wearing a plain blue shirt and black skirt. Vicki was wearing a really elegant white dress with sleeves that reminded me of the dress she wore when we first started this crazy adventure. Water Song was here too, but she wasn't as dressed up as the rest of us wearing the same outfit she wore when she first appeared.

The time went by pretty fast and even though I wasn't dancing I was still keeping myself occupied with my own thoughts. I walked out to a balcony to see a couple in the corner. I frowned; honestly missing my boyfriend from Earth and wanting him here.

Walking to the other end of the balcony as to give them some space I looked back towards our group. Kairi was hanging out with Maka dancing; Sora was wandering around with Black Star doing who knows what. Tsukiyomi was talking to kid about something and Tsubaki was talking in the corner with Amaterasu, at least the poor boy was talking, Vicki was conversing with Water Song then started to laugh about something unknown to me. P.J. was conversing in the back with Shinigami-San and and Riku was walking towards me.

"Something happened today with the heartless that affected you." So much for beating around the bush.

"How'd you find out?" I just wanted to forget about this day and leave it behind me.

"I could sense it when you did it, so that's the side effect?" I had forgotten that the only other time that I did that was back in sector 7, before they came along.

"Why are we all together so conveniently?" I asked out loud.

"Huh?" He side glanced at me.

"I mean you're helping us find out bits and parts about our lives while you lock worlds, what do we do to help you?" I mumbled resting my arms on the railing.

Riku thought about it for a minute. "Everything happens for a reason." He replied. "Maybe you're helping make it easier. I mean from what I heard you could restore all the nobodies' hearts. That's a good thing. We're just sort of along for the ride." He smirked to himself. "Just don't worry about it, and don't lose hope. Believe me when I say that you should never give your light for whatever anyone says."

"Thanks Riku." I mumbled "I just hope I can keep that close to my heart. When it's all over, I'd like to see where you come from." I added as a last minute thought.

"Just as long as you let me get a good tour or yours." He smiled looking at the scenery.

"It's a deal." I replied as I gave him a hug. He hugged back surprisingly.

"Riku and Celeste sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Black Star shouted causing me to jump away from Riku and trace a shallow line on my shoulder that in turn scrapped Black Stars shoulder. Everyone laughed, even him.

I wish these moments would last a long time.

"We'll try to come and visit sometime!" Kairi said waving goodbye to Maka and Soul.

"And I promise I'll have more pranks for us to pull." Black Star announced High-fiveing Sora.

"Well contact you somehow if something comes up." Stein said to P.J. as I sat at the foot of the ship watching them say their farewells along with Vicki and Riku. Suddenly I got Glomped from the side.

"Visit us soon okay!" Patty shouted hugging me so tight I was starting to suffocate.

"I...P-promise" I managed to choke out.

"You better!" She lightly warned letting go of me and going after Vicki next, Riku had already entered the ship. I followed suit after Vicki was freed from Patty.

"All systems go." P.J. said as he turned on the ship and lifted it off the ground. And with that we were off to the next world.


	21. Chapter 21

After some time, I had reclaimed the pilot's seat. We had been flying around for hours, not really paying attention to where we were going. Everyone was beginning to get "cabin fever", since we hadn't seen a single living or mechanical thing since we left Shibusen. Even PJ was complaining. I had fortunately tuned everyone out with the use of my iPod, which was amazingly still working. A rather constant cycle of songs that would annoy anyone else to no end did wonders in this situation. In the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather peaceful looking world and turned towards it. All of a sudden, every alarm in the ship started to go off. I turned off Sicel Bmyoan (my iPod) and searched for the problem. Silently, I swore to myself.

"We're outta gas! We're gonna crash!" Sora yelled behind me.

"No shit Sherlock!" I growled, "I can still make an emergency landing if you'll all kindly _shut up!_" Soon, the only noise was the alarms. I stomped on the gas pedal and hoped to get into the atmosphere before something else happened. I was lucky enough to have the gummy ship descend down towards a large field. I slammed on the brake and pulled hard on the steering wheel. We levelled out just enough for us to survive the immanent crash. The gummi ship landed painfully on the ground, sending us all flying, even though we were strapped in. I was sent head long into a tree. Blackness filled my head as I drifted into sleep.

I awoke with a terrible headache later on. I opened my eyes slowly. All I saw was black. Pushing myself off of the wooden floor, a Pachirisu dropped down in front of me. I recoiled instantly, letting out a pathetic little cry. It was huge!

"Hiya! Don't be afraid! What're you doing here?" it asked me.

"Huh? I… uh… crashed, into your tree?" I said, trying to figure out what was going on. The electric squirrel pokémon looked at me funny then laughed.

"What were you trying to do? Fly?" it chuckled. I blinked a couple times.

"Uh… I was thrown? I think?" I responded, "Uh anyways, sorry about that. I'm going to take my leave now." And with that, I jumped out of the hole in the tree. I noted that Water Song was on the ground.

"Huh? Why does everything look so huge now?" I wondered out loud. That's when I noticed that I was on all fours. I looked at myself in complete shock. I was an Eevee! Of all pokémon, I was the one with the unstable DNA.

"Holy CRAP! I'm a pokémon! What the heck's going on here!" I shouted, catching the attention of a nearby Poochyena. It ran up to me, growling a little. I stood in a defensive position and growled. It suddenly skidded to a stop.

"Woah! Calm down! It's me! Celeste!" it cried.

"Celeste? You're the pooch?" I asked, now almost laughing

"Oh ha ha ha. Very funny. Have you seen PJ or Riku or Sora or Kairi?" she responded.

"I just got out of a tree, so no," I said bluntly.

"I guess we should look for them then," she sighed. I nodded and dragged Water Song with me as we went to find them. We managed to find Kairi first. She almost attacked us when we approached her. Because of her scream, Sora came running and tripped over me. It hurt. We soon found Riku and PJ once Sora realized we weren't heartless.

"So… how are we going to go about this?" PJ asked, who was now a Houndour.

"Well, I say we obey the laws of this world, which means us pokémon now need trainers," I suggested.

"Trainers? Why would you need one of those?" Sora questioned.

"Uh… it's really hard to explain… um… trainers help pokémon get stronger by getting them to fight, like levelling an RPG character. It's a lot of work, but it's harder if a pokémon does it by itself. It's a partnership thing," I sighed.

"So, where can we find you guys a trainer?" Riku asked.

"Any human can be a trainer, really. Honestly, our trainers should be you guys. Less confusion when we have to leave then. On top of that, you can participate in any scraps we get into by telling us to use a certain attack, like tackle or quick attack. The battle system is a little confusing to explain though, but it's all elemental. Take Celeste for example. She's a Poochyena, and that's a dark type, so she will be prone to learning dark and normal type moves. PJ is a Houndour, which is a dark and fire type. He will learn mostly fire and dark attacks. As for me, I'm an Eevee, which is a normal type. I learn mostly normal attacks until I evolve," I explained.

"Evolve?" Kairi said, scratching her head in confusion.

"It's a different stage in the growth of a pokémon. If a pokémon evolves, then it can generally learn stronger attacks and will be better at defence, at the price of speed. If a pokémon evolves too soon, a pokémon of the same breed could beat it easier if it evolves at its natural stage," PJ responded.

"So, will Celeste and PJ learn different elemental attacks if they evolve?"

"No, they won't. They evolve into Mightyena and Houndoom respectively. The reason I will is because of the fact that Eevees adapt to their surroundings easier. My evolutions are different elements because of this. I can evolve into one element only though, each with its own weakness. Three of them can only be obtained if I am exposed to a certain type of stone. A water stone will evolve me into a Vaporeon, a fire stone will turn me into Flareon, and a thunder stone will change me into a Jolteon. You can already tell what elements they use. However the other four are based off of levelling. If I am really happy and I evolve during the day, I become an Espeon, a psychic type. Same thing at night will be Umbreon, a dark type. Levelling in a certain area of Route 217, I'll be a Glaceon, ice type. Levelling around a specific mossy rock will be Leafeon, plant type," I answered

"I still don't understand your evolution."

"More scientifically, I have unstable DNA. My "evolutions" is more like a "mutation", but it's still considered evolution because I get stronger should I evolve. Also, some things you'll learn as you go, so don't worry if you mess up. Now that that's over and done with…" I sighed

"_I call Celeste!_" Sora blurted out. I held my tongue, looking over at PJ, who was also trying not to laugh. Celeste just shrugged and hopped onto Sora's lap.

"I want PJ," Riku said, beginning to pet PJ's head.

"Then you're with me," Kairi giggled as she picked me up slowly.

"I'm not complaining," I snickered. Kairi scratched just under my fur collar when I remembered something.

"You know what we forgot to do? We forgot to lock Shibusen…" I sighed. Riku slapped the back of Sora's head.

"Nice job, Sora," he chuckled. Sora rubbed the back of his head and laughed as he pretended to fight with Riku.

"Boys. Can't live with 'em, can't like without 'em," I sighed. Kairi and Celeste laughed.

"As fun as this is, we should get working on finding something of importance here. I want to be done with this world and back in my true body ASAP," PJ grumbled.

"I hate to admit it, but the mutt's right. We should get going. That and I smell heartless," I chuckled as PJ attempted to attack me without hurting Kairi. I squirmed and hopped onto Kairi's shoulder. Kairi giggled at him and proceeded forward, Sora and Celeste following close behind. PJ growled at me. Riku just sighed.

We soon emerged from the mini forest into a very tiny town. I jumped down from Kairi's shoulder and walked at her side. PJ took this opportunity to catch me of guard in a tackle. I threw him off easily. I darted away from him and hopped onto a post. I watched PJ jump up and down and bark at me. I stuck my tongue out at him as Kairi picked me up off of the post.

"I'm so sorry! She was just trying to get away from PJ," she told a tall man. I could already tell I was going to get a scolding out of this.

"It's alright, little lady. Just keep a better eye on your Eevee! Team rocket is out and stealing pokémon from trainers lately. And then there are those new dark pokémon," the man responded. I looked at him carefully and nearly had a fangasm.

"Hey! That's Professor Oak! He knows almost everything on pokémon!" I whispered to Kairi. Kairi looked down at me then back to the Pokémon Professor. Sora stood next to her now with Celeste.

"Hey, can we see these new pokémon?" he asked as Riku grabbed PJ.

"Of course! It's always good to see kids interested in new pokémon!" Oak laughed as he started to walk into his lab.

"Who wants to bet that the new pokémon are heartless?" Celeste asked. I raised my paw.

"Totally bet that they are," I said.

"Only one way to find out," Sora laughed as we went into the laboratory.


	22. Chapter 22

I actually didn't like being a pokémon as much as I first thought. I swear to whatever higher power it was taking all I had to not scratch the living shit outta my fur; it was itchy, hot, and all together inconvenient.

"Oh my." Professor Oak exclaimed as we all peered in. The 'pokémon' were indeed heartless, and they were scattering papers everywhere and attacking the pokémon. I saw one about to attack a couple Pichus and my instinct jumped in and I ran infront of the pair growling.

"Sora, yell an attack!" I shouted growling deeper.

"What should I yell?" Sora turned to Vicki.

"Tell her to use roar." Vicki replied.

"Oh okay, Celeste use roar." Sora yelled.

As if I knew what the hell he was talking about I let out a loud roar that I didn't think would come from my small body. The heartless Stopped for a minute then all ran off.

"Thank you! You saved us!" One of the Pichus jumped onto my back.

"Yeah! They don't seem like normal pokémon." The other one said coming up.

"Celeste, that was way too reckless." Vicki said coming up. "We don't even fully know the extent of our powers."

"Can you guys even use your original powers?" Riku asked walking up with everyone else.

"Wait, you can understand them?" Professor Oak asked bewildered.

"You can't?" Sora asked tilting his head to look at the Pichus that were tackling me in thanks.

"It isn't usual for people to understand their pokémon." Oak blandly stated.

"Well looks like I'm explaining this time P.J." Riku said as he went to explain the situation.

While Riku was explaining we figured out almost all our powers had been restricted. Vicki could only use her sonic screech and I could only do healing and maybe soul sucking but there were no targets to use it on.

"Well this makes a most interesting of situations. You'll probably have to watch your backs even closer now seeing as the heartless are here and you three are powerless." Oak said nodding to the three of us that, at the moment, weren't human.

Suddenly, the roof exploded and we heard what I really didn't want to hear right now.

"Prepare For Trouble"

_Oh Shit_

"Make It Double"

_Really?_

"Would you two Shut the hell up!"

_Double shit_

"We're gunna have to skip the introductions we got company!" Meowth panicked as P.J. jumped all the way to the top of the balloon.

"You better have a good reason for pissing me off while I'm in a bad mood." He growled. Then he looked at what we had heard yell at team rocket."Well well, if it isn't Marluxia and Larxene." He greeted sarcastically.

"You won't have that smirk for long." Larxene growled as she threw a thunderbolt at P.J. who in turn fell to the floor.

"Now to capture them." Jesse said as she hit a button and a net flew out at the three of us and Kairi who had been standing near Vicki.

"This is too easy." Marluxia commented with a smirk on his face, I almost laughed because now I got a good look at them. Larxene was a Pikachu (surprising) with her ears pulled back like her hair, and Marluxia was a roselia with pink hair. Now that I thought about it, Vicki, P.J. and I didn't look much like our original 'kin' so to speak either. I had my hair coming down around my ears and covering the right half of my face, I had fur marks on my front paws, a black and a white one, where my ribbons usually were, and I still had my spiked collar and gold chain on as well as my pouch on my waist. Vicki had a pair of wing imprinted on the fur of her back, I wasn't sure if it was to be useful or anything and she was carrying watersong around surprisingly, made me wonder if I could use my scythes. Probably. And her normal hair didn't seem to affect her at all. P.J. had No big differences just that his brown, black, white mixed hair was falling through his skull thing on his head.

"No you don't." Riku growled as he did his weird space jump to the basket of the balloon, Sora following suit and performing and arial dash to the basket.

"We need a way to get them off!" Meowth shouted as Riku made it up to the basket.

"I'll take care of him." I could hear Larxene's smirk as she got ready for another thunderbolt.

"Oh no you don't!" Sora yelled as he summoned his keyblade to swing at Larxene. To be blocked by Marluxia who had summoned his scythe.

Meanwhile down below, Vicki was working as fast as she could to cut the ropes with watersong.

"Almost there." _snap _"Yes, oh crap." Suddenly we were all falling towards the earth; I started to bark to catch the two boys' attentions that were fighting on the basket. I saw Sora get knocked off by Marluxia then suddenly, I saw a thunderbolt and Riku go flying over the side.

"We are so screwed." I thought as I closed my eyes bracing for impact. Though not before I saw Marluxia and Larxene jumping after us. Asshats.

"Celeste are you okay?" I opened my eyes to see Sora holding me the way you do when you pick up a dog. I brought my tail to cover myself as an instant reaction.

"I'm fine, head hurts but I'm fine. Where is everyone else?" I asked as I looked past his shoulder and saw Marluxia and Larxene appear from some bushes. "You asshats!" I growled at them. "Why can't you leave us alone?"

"Well isn't that rude." Larxene pretended to be offended. "We just wanted to make sure our wild card was alright." Her sincerity was so fake I wanted to vomit.

"Why you -" I didn't have time to react because we suddenly heard loud noises coming from a little bit away and it was getting closer, fast.

"It's an infernape and a pack of primeapes!" Vicki shouted as they finally stood before us.

"What are you doing in our territory?" The infernape's voice was booming.

"We fell from the sky." I lazily replied.

"You need to leave at once or else." It didn't seem entirely threatening. If we listen we definitely won't be attacked.

"Like hell I'm moving you dumb ape!" Larxene snapped. Even Marluxia looked disappointed at her outburst.

"Then we'll have to fight you!" The infernape let out a big roar before throwing a fireball at Marluxia and charging at Larxene, while the rest of his pack charged us.

"There's too many for our inexperienced bodies!" P.J. yelled as the primeapes got closer.

"We can still try. P.J. use smog!" Riku yelled as P.J. shot gas from his mouth. Thank god Vicki told them about the attacks while we were with Professor Oak.

Then we got to fight.

"Vicki use sand-attack!"

"Celeste use Tackle!" Maybe we could defeat them after all.

_"Shit!" _I thought as I got thrown against a tree so hard I heard a crack in both me and the tree. _"Maybe we can't do it on our own."_ Marluxia and Larxene were long gone with the infernape which left us with his pissed off groupies.

"I don't think we can hold out much longer." Kairi said what we all didn't want to believe. But we were almost finished, we needed a miracle.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Or that works too. All the primeapes were suddenly on the ground looking like BBQ.

"Are you guys okay?" It was Ash Ketchum and his two friends Misty and Brock. Right away Brock went up to Kairi and grabbed her hand.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!" He said in an overly dramatic voice.

"Umm thank you?" Kairi looked like she was about to scream and run away.

"You think you'd learn after this long." Misty said grabbing Brock's ear and pulling him back.

"Anyway I'm Ash, that's Brock and Misty." Ash said pointing to each one in turn.

"I'm Sora. This is Riku, Kairi, Celeste, Vicki, and P.J." Sora said doing the same.

"You gave your pokémon nicknames? That's so cute!" Misty gushed

"Well ya see." Riku started and did the big explanation again.

"Oh wow I didn't think it was possible." Ash said scratching the back of his head. "And now those heartless are here attacking pokémon? That's not right." He made a serious face. "We'll go with you to help you find a way to lock this world." Ash held out his hand and Sora shook it.

"Then lets' go." Riku said walking down the path out of here, Kairi keeping her distance from Brock.


	23. Chapter 23

For no particular reason along the way to Pewter City, I started to sing random songs from the pokémon games as I remembered them. I could tell that PJ was getting annoyed, which I found amusing. It was easy to push his buttons, especially compared to Celeste and Sora, who by this time had actually joined in along with Ash and Pikachu. Misty was also getting annoyed, but for once was holding her tongue. Everyone else was left unaffected by our annoyance. We were passing through Viridian Forest, with only the weaker bug pokémon out for a fight now. Eventually, we reached the end of the maze that was the forest.

"Well that was entertaining," I said as I jumped off of Kairi's shoulder.

"Huh?" she responded with a dazed tone. Apparently, she had tuned us out. I just grinned as we walked into Pewter city. I looked into the sky and sat down.

"What is she doing?" Kairi asked

"Five."

"I don't know. Try asking Celeste," Riku suggested.

"Four."

"Sounds like she's counting down to something," Celeste responded.

"Three."

"Huh? Why would she be counting down here?" Misty questioned.

"Two."

"I'm confused…" Sora stated.

"One. No comment."

"What would all that… Is that screaming?" Ash observed. As if out of nowhere, Team Rocket fell from the sky, right on cue. For some odd reason, I felt especially mean right then and there. I walked up to Meowth calmly and laughed in his face.

"Did you have a nice fall?" I teased. Instantly, Meowth jumped up at me. I flipped back out of the way easily.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie declared as she jumped up.

"Make it double," James continued, following suite.

"If you don't shut the hell up, you'll be neck deep in it pretty quick. But don't let me stop you from your idiotic banter of stupidness," Celeste growled.

"Don't mock Team Rocket!" Meowth hissed, after he translated for the other two members of the team.

"Oh, but it's so easy! I mean come on! You've been trying to catch Pikachu for _how long_? Ten _years?_ When you can just grab a pokéball and catch one for yourselves? How can someone _not_ mock a team like _that?_" I laughed. Pikachu was snickering quietly behind us.

"Don't forget the millions of failed attempts to be recognized as evil, like in the ones in Hoenn," PJ chuckled.

"Oh! Making up stories now?" Jessie exclaimed after the mandatory translation.

"Hey! Jessie! What's the colour of your red face?" I shouted, causing Pikachu, Celeste, and PJ to burst into laughter.

"They're really going at it…" Sora observed, slightly surprised.

"This is really off topic," James sighed.

"_Help us out!_" Jessie and Meowth yelled at him, causing him to stumble and fall backwards. Needless to say, most of us were laughing.

"Ugh, let's just get this out of the way," Jessie grumbled, "Seviper! Wrap! Now!" Seviper hissed as it obeyed Jesse's command.  
"Celeste! Roar!" Sora called. Celeste inhaled deeply and roared. It didn't even faze Seviper. I didn't even bother waiting for an order. I head-butted the snake pokémon head on.  
"Why didn't it work?" Sora wondered out loud.  
"It's a trainer battle! It doesn't work in them!" I yelled, just barely dodging a bite.

"Vicki! Quick attack!" Kairi shouted. I jumped away and bolted forward. Target hit.

"PJ! Smog!" PJ inhaled and let out the poisonous gas from… where ever it was stored in his tiny body. I've never thought of pokémon biology before… Anyways…

James's Carnivine was sent out without my noticing. By the time I saw it, its bullet seed was sending me and Celeste into a tree. I flipped my body around and landed feet first on the trunk of the tree. Celeste had done the same. We bounced off at the same time and tackled Carnivine. Celeste chomped down hard on Seviper. I charged up a takedown, slamming into Carnivine.

"This isn't going well!" Meowth cried.

"Seviper! Poison tail!" Celeste dodged the attack, allowing for PJ to use a combination of ember and bite, which turned into fire fang. The attack caused Seviper to flinch. Suddenly, PJ began to glow. The glow seemed to shatter once he grew.

"Riku, meet PJ the Houndoom," I chuckled. Riku grinned to himself as PJ howled.

"PJ! Flamethrower!" PJ inhaled deeply. The flame shot out to Carnivine, instantly knocking it out. James returned his Carnivine sadly. Jesse sent out Yanmega and Wobbuffet. Celeste charged at Wobbuffet, who attacked with counter. It was surprisingly effective. Celeste bounced off the ground with a yelp. She growled deeply and began to glow. The light shattered as she lowered to the ground, revealing her as a Mightyena.

"More evolving. Guess I'm last," I observed, flipping out of the way of Yanmega's quick attack, "Use dark attacks on Wobbuffet, everything else on Yanmega," I muttered to myself. Celeste and PJ switched strategies and attacked Wobbuffet with crunch, both dodging the counter right on time. I bolted in a quick attack directed at Seviper, only to be thrown back by Yanmega. I growled lightly as Seviper wrapped its body around mine. I noted my own light glow when Seviper squeezed.

"Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts…" I chanted. I chomped into Seviper, making the snake pokémon shriek in pain. I jumped out of the wrap and tackled. I continued my onslaught, as I attempted to evolve. Suddenly, the light was too strong for me. I closed my eyes briefly and sat down. When I opened them, I was pleased to have finally evolved into an Espeon. Took me long enough. I grinned wildly and unleashed a psybeam on Seviper, finally knocking it out. I glared up at Yanmega. A few rocks around me began to glow softly. They lifted into the air and slammed into the dragonfly pokémon. PJ and Celeste landed next to me. Celeste charged recklessly at Yanmega and Wobbuffet, hitting them both with take down. She recoiled next to PJ, who unleashed a powerful flamethrower at the pair. I glared at the two pokémon, letting a fully charged psychic blast them back into Team Rocket. We all let out a final attack on them, sending them blasting off, yet again.

Celeste and I sighed. I returned to Kairi's side, who picked me up and cuddled me.

"So this is an Espeon! You're so cute!" she squealed.

"It was harder to evolve than I thought," I chuckled. PJ sat next to Riku and Celeste returned to Sora. Celeste rolled her eyes at me.

"Well, I'm tired. Let's go to the pokémon center," PJ yawned. We all agreed. Pikachu's pokéball fell to the ground and began to glow. It lifted up into the air and opened up. Go figure that the keyhole was inside that stupid thing. Sora flipped backwards and locked the world.

"I guess that means we have to leave now," Riku sighed.

"Already?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, but we'll be back," Kairi responded.

"But first, pokécenter. Those psychic attacks took a fair chunk out of me. And we have to fix the gummi ship," I purred. Kairi giggled nervously. Great, she forgot.


	24. Chapter 24

We made it to the pokécenter just before nightfall and they took us all away to let us rest. Nurse Joy seemed confused as to why none of our trainers had pokéballs but dismissed it and continued on. That left the pokémon to stay and converse.

"So...What now?" I asked yawning and stretching out.

"Didn't Cid tell you how to fix the gummi?" Vicki asked lying down.

"It would be that simple. But, I don't have fingers." I said rolling over to my side. "Damn I'm more tired than I thought."

"I could probably get a hold of Cid once we get out." P.J. stated sitting down. "For now we need to rest."

"Take care!" Nurse Joy called as we walked back to find where our gummi ship ended up.

"Something tells me this might take a while." I sighted as I continued to plot along the path.

"How far did we end up anyway?" Sora asked as we continued along the pathway.

"I guess we'll find out." Vicki stated on Kairi's shoulder.

We made a pretty good distance by the time dusk rolled around and we all decided to take a quick rest for the night.

"So where are all you guys from exactly?" Ash asked as we all settled down.

"Well Riku, Kairi, and I are from Destiny Islands." Sora stated proudly.

"What about your pokémon friends?" Misty asked.

"Well we don't know where Celeste and Vicki are from, and P.J.'s from Hollow Bastion." Sora said as he yawned.

"Stop talking and let me sleep." I mumbled flopping down on my side.

Something woke me up late at night and I wasn't able to fall back asleep again.

"Damn." I mumbled getting up and walking a bit to stretch my legs. I started walking across the pathway to the other side to see if I could find a stick to chew on or something. If I was like this after a few days I wonder what it must have been like for P.J. when he was pretending to be my pet dog. The thought made me giggle. I looked up and saw a little orb a little bit away from floating deeper in the woods.

"Is that a soul?" I mumbled as I walked into the other side of the woods and followed the orb. "Come back." I said as I jumped up and tried to eat it but it simply floated higher. "Come down I'm hungry!" I whined jumping up and trying to snatch it again. I followed it a bit before I finally caught it between my paws and ate it up. "Why was it wandering around?" I asked myself looking behind me. "And how do I get back?"

"Quite simply, you don't." I whipped around to see Larxene and Marluxia on the other side of an open field I hadn't even noticed I was in.

"What do you want?" I growled as I crouched low.

"We just want your help." Larxene gasped, pretending to be shocked at my hostility.

"Why the hell would I help you?" I spat back.

"Your ability would be useful in our desire to get hearts; and it would save oh so many worlds from destruction from us in an attempt to collect hearts." Marluxia's voice was pissing me off already.

"Why would I care of the well being of others if my world and everything I knew is gone?" I didn't really believe that but I wanted to see what they would try to do to get me to cooperate.

"We all know you care deeply seeing as your original world is still out there somewhere." Marluxia smirked as he answered. Fuck he saw right through me. "We'll leave your friends alone if you create another heart for us, we'll even show you where you come from." And he had a comeback. I gotta think how to counter.

"How do I know you're not pulling my leg?" _Wow that was impressive._ I thought sarcastically.

"How do you know Pajashok isn't the one pulling?" Marluxia questioned. Larxene started to laugh.

"What a cruel brother, keeping your lineage hidden from you. Makes you wonder why you hopelessly follow him clinging on to all hope you have. What a weak pathetic girl." Larxene mocked as she laughed.

"Shut up." I growled. I was going to kill them. "What does he gain from keeping it from us anyway?"

"There we go." Marluxia announced. He suddenly raised a flowered hand and a large amount of dusk nobodies appeared. "Take their souls angel, give us a heart and we'll tell you what your 'brother' is hiding from you." Angel, that was a weird name.

"Why would he hide the truth from me?" I started absorbing the souls against my will; my anger was too high.

"Maybe he doesn't want you to know the truth." Marluxia calmly replied.

"Again, I ask why!" I charged forward, plowing through the dusks towards Marluxia. Bad idea; Larxene got in my way.

"Well you 'brother' doesn't want you to know how powerful you are, ever think about that? Maybe he thinks you'd be a threat." Larxene drawled flinging a few kunai at me forcing me to jump back; the dusk wasted no time filling the gap that had appeared between us.

"Dammit." I mumbled under my breath charging again. I jumped at Marluxia while he stood there smirking. I almost got there when I stopped dead in my tracks and fell over; I slowly felt another heartbeat form in my body. "Shit." I groaned as I fell over. I felt so weak! I wasn't able to move as Marluxia calmly strode up and almost grinned down at me. "Well we got the heart but you refused to cooperate by peaceful means; so I guess you're not going to see your family just yet." He brought his hand above my heart and I screamed from pain as the other heart separated from my body. "Finally." Marluxia mumbled. But as he was about to absorb the heart, Larxene hit his hand with a kunai and grabbed the heart. "Why?" Marluxia demanded.

"It's a dog eat dog world sweetie." She grinned evilly as she absorbed the heart.

"This is unforgivable!" Marluxia yelled as he summoned his scythe and charged away from me towards Larxene. Who instantly blocked.

"I'm sorry." Surprisingly, Larxene looked like she meant it. She had an aura appearing also that proved she was feeling guilt.

"I was going to get it, then you! We could have left the stupid organization!" For someone who couldn't feel he still looked pissed off. What was worse was that I was stuck in the middle with no souls in my body to heal if I get injured. Great, just great.

"But you could just make another one!" Larxene shouted near tears as she continued to deflect all Marluxia's attacks gracefully.

"You know we can't do that! It would over stress her body and she'd go berserk trying to get more souls, killing us in the process." So that explains why Vexen didn't try to make a new one when he lost his. "For her it would be like cutting off an arm, growing it back and cutting it off again, then trying to compensate by tearing off everyone else's arms." Wow, who thought he cared so much.

"I'm so sorry." I was weird seeing her so remorseful but still fighting. Then, Larxene started to use more lightning.

I was getting really hungry and though I didn't want to risk their safety, I tried to think to Vicki to see if she would wake up. I yelled her name in my head, followed by a desperate plea for help explaining what happened. Now though all I could do was wait.

_''You rely too much on other people, you really are weak." The voice from my dream was back._

"Nice of you to stop by. Anything useful you'd like to say before I try to ignore you?"

_"One thing, you should really think twice about whom to believe."_

"That's handy, seeing as I fail at riddles and their meanings. Thanks a hell of a lot _Scari._"

_"We both know that's not my name Celeste."_

"But it used to be, that's what matters. Which makes me wonder, why can I understand you so clearly? It's like you're a real person somewhere talking to me."

A deep peaceful chuckle surrounded my mind. _"You'll find out soon enough 'master'."_

"That's a new one." I grinned visibly so my fangs showed. "So does that mean a yes?"

_"So impatient." _I could hear her sigh. _"You should learn to wait."_ I felt her presence disappear.

"Celeste!" I heard Vicki yell.

"About time." I thought. "But damn, I'm hungry."

P.J.'s ears twitched towards the battle. "One of them has a heartbeat." He stated bluntly.

"Whoa! They what?" Sora seemed surprised. Didn't he know what happened at death city?

"Celeste! Which one? Why are they fighting? Are you okay?" Kairi jumped right into interrogation mode.

"Vicki, It's Larxene, she stole the heart from Marluxia, and," I grinned. "I'm really hungry. Try to draw some of the wandering dusks or something." She nodded in response as I fell asleep.

I must have been out because when I woke up I saw that I was in the gummiship, still as a pokémon, but in the ship none the less.

"Hey you're up!" And who else but Cid to be in it. "You guys did a number on the thing I must say." He said as he grabbed some tools out of a cabinet and walked back out. I walked out and winced at the sun.

"Celeste!" I got thrown over the side. By Sora?

"Hey I just woke up kiddo!" I yelped swinging my paws wildly. "How long was I out?"

"About a day." Riku said walking up and taking Sora off me.

"He he, sorry." I mumbled under my breath.

"You should be! You scared the crap outta us!" Vicki yelped jumping down from the top of the ship. "It's a good thing we got a couple dusks to wander near you."

"Lucky me huh?" I laughed nervously. "Hey Cid! When ya gunna be done?" The gummiship looked finished already and I saw his wasn't far off.

"Uh, I should be done in a couple more hours." He stated. "You should count yourself lucky you got such a caring brother. Calling me up like that." This made me frown and remember what Marluxia said to me.

_"How do you know Pajashok isn't the one pulling?" Marluxia questioned. Larxene started to laugh._

_"What a cruel brother, keeping you lineage hidden from you. Makes you wonder why you hopelessly follow him clinging on to all hope you have. What a weak pathetic girl." Larxene mocked as she laughed._

And what did she mean think twice about who you believe? Should I trust who I've known for so long, or ones that haven't earned my trust?

"Celeste? You okay?" Kairi noticed I was zoned out.

"Nothing to worry your head off about." I smiled, which in turn looked like a growl.

"They said something didn't they?" Riku was hard to evade.

"They said that P.J. was hiding something from us because he didn't want us to learn our true potential. Then someone I know very well told me to think twice about who I should trust." I said. Trying my hardest not to make it known who the person was exactly.

"Who do you know around here that would say that?" Sora asked.

"Someone I hold dear to my heart." I smiled warmly. Sora tried to pry further but Vicki thankfully stopped them. "Hey, where's Ash and them?" I asked looking around.

"Up with Cid. They haven't seen a gummiship after all." P.J. stated. "And I wouldn't keep something like this from you. I know how this is effecting you and I would never be that cruel." The look in his eyes really made me feel guilty that I keep on doubting him.

We amused ourselves with useless banter until Cid yelled down at us.

"Gummi's done. You should probably come back to Hollow Bastion, just got a call from Cloud, they found a bit more info about you." He said hopping down, followed by Ash and the gang.

"So I guess this is goodbye." Ash said holding his hand out, Sora happily took it.

"Maybe we'll meet again." Misty said happily smiling with Kairi.

"Hurry up!" I yelled, which sounded like barking to select ears. "I wanna find out more about me." I chuckled at how narcissistic that sounded.

"We'll see you around!" Sora shouted as we all set off.

"You ready?" We heard Cid through our intercom.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Sora replied turning the Gummiship on. And with that, we started the journey back to Hollow Bastion.


	25. Chapter 25

A little while after leaving Kanto, we finally changed back to our original forms. I stretched my body, covering myself with my wings. As Celeste did the same with hers, I looked over at her calmly. I could tell that she was trying to cover up what happened in the meadow. Mind you, both of us were now trying to hide something. I already knew what happened out there, through my telepathy. I rubbed my forehead as I thought about that night.

'_Vicki!' I heard Celeste cry. I woke up instantly and found that my fears were true. Not only had Celeste wandered off, but now she was in trouble. I jumped onto Kairi and kneaded into her shoulder. I knew it was annoying and that she would wake up from experience with my cats._

"_Vicki… stop…" she moaned, trying to roll over._

"_Get up! Celeste is in trouble!"_

"_And you're kneading into me why…?"_

"_Because I haven't figured out another way to wake people up? Now move!" We managed to get Sora, Riku and PJ up as well. All the others were dead to the world. Along the way, I caught part of a conversation in Celeste's head._

_"… Understand you so clearly? It's like you're a real person somewhere talking to me."_

_A deep peaceful chuckle surrounded her mind. "You'll find out soon enough 'master'."_

_"That's a new one. So does that mean a yes?"_

_"So impatient," The other voice sighed, "You should learn to wait." The second presence soon disappeared. I shuddered violently._

_When we found Celeste, Marluxia was attacking Larxene, who was only defending, and surprisingly crying._

"_Celeste!" I yelled. I ran up to her fallen body._

'_About time,' she thought, 'but damn, I'm hungry.'_

'_You dork,' I thought to myself._

"_One of them has a heartbeat," PJ stated bluntly._

"_Woah! They what?" Sora cried out. Oops… I knew there was something I forgot to tell him… I looked at the dusks and growled. My telekinesis was handy enough to get just enough of them over to Celeste. I didn't like the idea, but hey, at least she'd live for another day. PJ herded some of them over to her as well, the souls floating right into her body. About ten or so souls later, Marluxia and Larxene were gone._

"_Shit."_

I was unaware that my eyes were now glowing an acidic green. Celeste brought me out of it, now fully clothed. Her outfit was different. She was now wearing a black tank top, dark blue jeans, and a black leather jacket. PJ was also already dressed. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of loose jeans, also with a leather jacket. You'd swear those two were blood related.

"Hm…? Are we there already…?" I wondered out loud. Celeste chuckled and shook her head. My serious expression didn't change. PJ noticed this right away.

"Is everything okay?" he asked me.

"Depends. Celeste, I need to talk to you later, alone. Preferably ground side." Celeste gulped. She knew I sensed something odd. Without another word, I got out of my seat and wandered to the back of the ship. Our clothes were lying there in a pile. I smelt mine and recoiled at the terrible stench. I pulled my amulet that Jill gave me and my lock.

"S.T.A.R.S… Nemesis… Damn it! What the hell is going on!" I shouted, pounding my fist into the ground. I breathed hard, trying to think rationally.

"I gotta go over the facts later…" I thought out loud, "Just calm down Vics. You just need to think this through ground side…" I sighed. I wandered further back and picked up a package wrapped in brown paper. A small note was attached to it.

"Here are some clothes. I figured you would need something other than your first outfit after a while. A strange person recommended I give you this outfit. She seemed to know you. And don't worry, she's really nice. Don't crash on the way back!

~Aerith"

I stared at the note and giggled. I put the note down and pulled the amulet around my neck. It was glowing a little, but I assumed that it was just the lighting. The paper ripped off fairly easily. I pulled up the outfit and laid it on the ground so I could see it better. I stared at it for a few moments.

"Note to self: Tell Aerith how modest I am with clothing," I sighed, before putting the outfit on.

The clothes fit snugly against my body. Instinct told me to pull up the strapless bra every now and then, even though it was always in place. Honestly, Jill's Resident Evil 3 outfit was the last thing I expected Aerith to get me to wear. Tifa, maybe. Rikku and Yuffie, definitely. But Aerith? Hell no. Then again, some _mysterious person_ recommended this outfit. Probably someone who has it out for me. I sat down in my seat again, consciously trying not to reveal more than necessary in the already revealing outfit. My blush must have been really noticeable, because almost everyone in the ship was chuckling at me. I covered my lap with my tail. I fidgeted a little as I tried to cover myself up as much as possible. It wasn't working that well. My tail wrapped around my legs carefully. My wings just kept getting in the way. I decided just to curl up and go to sleep.

Hours later, we had landed at Radiant Gardens. I rushed my way out. It was good to finally get out of the cramped space. I stretched, my animalistic features now retracted. I had finally figured out a way to shorten the length of my ears. I looked like the human me, only now, my hair was dead strait. I liked it. My amulet glinted dully against the new light. The colours were softer than before. I fiddled with it as everyone else got out.

"Celeste. What I wanted to say can wait. Go find out about your history first, okay?" I said softly. Celeste just nodded and ran off.

I didn't even pay attention to anyone else as I walked on. Water Song was my only companion. I made it to a garden before she spoke to me.  
"What are you thinking about?" she asked. I looked down at her. She was still in the form of a sword.

"A lot of shit went down at Raccoon, didn't it?" I sighed.

"Yeah… but is that really what's making you so creepy? I mean, Vexen was creepy, even as Even, but you're really scarring me here."

"It's obviously not just that…"

"Start from the beginning. We're partners in this now, so you have to talk to me."

"Alright. First thing off the top of my head…" I fiddled with my necklace. "That beast… the Hiren'Faroth from my dreams…"

"Hiren'Faroth?"

"It means 'Lord of the Hunt'. From the information I gathered, they were rare and powerful beasts. Also, that's my aligned animal. Basically, they look like wolves the size of draft horses, with varying styles of wings. I got the basic kind. Males tend to grow moustaches, like some of the eastern dragons of old. They are able to control stuff too… like elementals. But I know that I don't even have half the powers I should if I was one of them. He comes in my dreams, only sometimes. But I haven't-"

Something crashed nearby before I got the chance to finish my sentence. I pulled my tranquillizer gun out and shot in the direction of the crash. After only hearing a squeak, I pulled out Water song and made my way towards the sound. All I found was a mouse and my dart. I picked the mouse up. It was small and frightened. I chuckled and put it on my shoulder.

"You're cute," I chimed. It squeaked again and nuzzled against my neck. A cat soon came out of the bushes, hissing up at the mouse. I held the mouse in my hand and growled at the cat. I apparently got my point across, for the cat ran off. I sheathed Water Song.

"We can finish the talk later," I sighed, walking back into the castle.

"Alright. Just don't take too long," Water Song chuckled.

A couple minutes later, my new friend and I found the kitchen. I had discovered that the mouse was female, and really like celery for some reason. I giggled as she munched on the celery stick I gave her.

"Eek! A mouse!" Rikku cried from behind me. I rushed over to my new friend and protected her from Rikku's attack.

"Hey! Watch it! She's done nothing wrong!" I growled, picking up the celery stick again. The mouse was soon clinging to it as she munched on it again, much slower this time.

"But it's a mouse!" Rikku cried.

"Well, I like mice. I also like rats, rabbits, squirrels and other rodents. They're cute and harmless if you don't hurt them!" I defended, walking out of the kitchen to go find Celeste.

"I wonder what your name is…" I sighed as I placed the mouse on my shoulder. She nibbled on the celery stick contently.

We found Celeste in the study. She was reading a small book. At least she's got something to go by now.

"Hey Celeste. Look what I found," I said as I placed the mouse on the desk with the now half eaten stick of celery. Celeste looked at her with hunger. The tiny mouse flinched and scampered over to me.

"Don't eat her soul. Anyways… I just thought of this now… Why am I the one in the mini skirt?" I asked. I pulled the skirt down a bit, still conscious of my appearance.

"Because I wouldn't be caught dead in one unless necessary," she said blandly. I chuckled nervously, pulling at the skirt again.

"So… got anything on your race…?" I asked. I leaned on the desk a bit and put the mouse on my shoulder, holding the celery stick up to her.

"Apparently, my race can only heal and we're immortal. I must be rare," she laughed. I giggled a little with her. Suddenly, Yuna knocked on the door.

"Celeste? Vicki? The meeting is going to start soon," she said, peering around the corner. She looked at me and started to giggle.

"Thanks, I know I look ridiculous with the knee-high boots, tube top, and mini skirt combo. It's not like I'm self conscious about my appearance or anything," I moaned sarcastically. Celeste stood and we walked out to the meeting room.

Once we had sat down in our respective chairs, some people started talking. I blushed, now highly embarrassed by my appearance, especially since Reno and Zidane were having… interesting thoughts.

"I'm going to kill the person who gave Aerith this outfit…" I mumbled under my breath.

"I think you look good in it, honestly," someone chuckled behind me. I sat up strait in shock. That voice… it couldn't be… oh, but it was. In a quick flash of blue, I had glomped the person behind me. Surprisingly, the mouse hadn't fallen off my shoulder. In fact, she was now on top of my head. The woman just laughed at my reaction.

"Jill! You live! And you're here!" I purred into her shoulder.

"Good to see you too," she snickered. Just then, something clicked. Okay, it was two things.

"Wait a second… You gave this outfit to Aerith to give to me, didn't you? And what about everyone else? Where are they!" I spazzed as I sat on her stomach. Jill nodded, grinning.

"Sit in the chair again and I'll explain," she replied. I sat down back in my seat, with all eyes on me. My cheeks went hot.

"Well, that explains one thing," Leon commented. He leaned against the wall calmly.

"Alright, to start things off, it appears as though we aren't the only ones investigating into the Bestial Elves and the Death Angels. Someone has been gathering information on other worlds," PJ stated. He nodded to me. I pulled my lock off of my sweater's sleeve. I picked it open quickly, revealing a secret compartment. Inside, was a jump drive. I placed the jump drive on the table. Auron took it and put it into a computer. I quickly set everything up. I wasn't surprised by the collective gasp.

"As you can already see, it's not just Death Angels and Beastial Elves. It's everyone. From what I've read, it appears to be mostly combat data. There are also some interesting highlights into the person in question's personality. Take Jill's profile for instance," I explained, pulling up her profile, "Skipping her combat data takes us down to "Important Information". It says that Jill is a B&A specialist, meaning she can pick locks. No, I don't know what it stands for. Moving on, it also says that she is an ex-S.T.A.R.S. member, that she is capable of taking down Umbrella's most fearsome Bio-Organic Weapon, Nemesis, down single handedly and that she carries the antibodies of the t-virus. That's the basic gist of these profiles. And before anyone asks, no, there aren't profiles on me and Celeste. We are mentioned though, under codenames."

"So whoever is doing this doesn't know much about you," Genesis observed.

"Exactly. In a slightly related note seems as though the stronger-willed persons are wanted for something. The folder I found all of this information in was entitled "Most Wanted – S Rank". I also noticed that profiles for Organization XIII and Albert Wesker are missing. It feels like a few others are missing too. I can't point them out, either. But, given the sheer amount of profiles, this has to be a work of multiple people, not necessarily organized, but there are definitely a lot gathering Intel. My guess is that the people gathering the information are spies, in a form. On another note, Nemesis. Jill, you can take this one, given your… experience," I said, sitting down in my chair again.

Jill shuddered as she walked over to the computer. She pulled up his profile. It actually showed what he used to look like before the transformation.

"Poor sap," I muttered. Almost everyone else recoiled when they saw his fully mutated form.

"This is Nemesis. He was Bio-Engineered as a B.O.W. to take down S.T.A.R.S. members, an elite group of police officers involved in a biohazard incident where I come from. He is deadly as a natural weapon, with both the instincts of a hunter and a well trained army. He works alone, with few objectives. He's also probably the hardest thing to kill next to an immortal. He regenerates quickly and will mutate lost cells. This particular version of Nemesis is the one currently after S.T.A.R.S. members, Celeste and Vicki. For some reason, it calls them "Toxic" and "Lightless" respectively. All I know about his current objectives are that it is meant to kill any survivors of the original biohazard incident, meaning Chris, Rebecca, Barry, and myself. As for Vicki and Celeste, I haven't got the faintest idea. Knowing our luck, it's probably just gathering combat data on them," Jill explained. Celeste and I gulped.

"What about that Albert Wesker guy?" Zidane asked.

"I was just about to get to that. He is the one pulling the strings behind Nemesis. He has a grudge against me and Chris because of the fact that we almost killed him, twice for me, four for Chris. Wesker is an insane maniac hell bent on killing Chris and getting my antibodies," Jill responded, giving me a quick glance, "The only reason he needs my antibodies is to keep the t-virus stable. If he cultivates enough of them from me, he will then kill me. In his mind, everyone is just a toy in one of his sick games."

"So, could this be his work?" Vincent sighed.

"More than likely, yes, knowing him. But, as Vicki said, there is no way that he could be doing this alone. He's obviously getting help from an outside source. I have no clue as to who it could be," Jill answered, tiredly.

"Now, how did you get here?" I demanded. Jill chuckled a bit at my persistence.

"Alright, alright. On that lighter note, after you guys left, the government came and took us away. Some of it's a little fuzzy still, but what I do remember is soldiers shoving us into something like your gummi ship, setting it on autopilot and shooting us off. I'm taking a wild guess and saying that we were heavily sedated. I don't know where the others are, but I suspect that they are scattered on other world. I was just lucky to land here," Jill coughed. I caught a flash of memory from her.

"They did something else to you, didn't they?" I said blandly.

"You're the telepath," Jill replied.

"Not the omnipotent. Tell me when you remember," I ordered, giving her my "no nonsense" look. She nodded and sat next to me again.

"In other news, we've not got allies in Death City and Kanto. They'll keep us updated on their respective heartless situations," Celeste said above the murmurs, "Also; it seems that Organization XIII is looking to "complete themselves"."

"But don't they need hearts to do that?" Zidane asked.

"Yes, but I can apparently produce them. Larxene got a hold on one of the ones I created," Celeste answered simply. That night was on her mind again. I spared her a glance, causing her to shut me out.

'She's getting better at that,' I mused to myself.

"That explains Larxene's sudden appearance," Leon sighed.

"Adda-wha?" Celeste and I said at the same time. It still wasn't the most intelligent thing we could have come up with.

"Larxene has been seen in Radiant Gardens lately. She seems… almost normal," Snow sighed with a shiver.

"Freaky," I commented.

"There's also the fact that the Organization Members seem to favor working with the villains of each world to accomplish their goals. It could be possible that through the villains' dark hearts is how they live once again," PJ said, continuing off of Celeste's last statement.

"That's kind of… weird. Anyways, I think that just about covers most of the information we gathered. It does appear that we need eyes and ears everywhere, but I would _suggest_ that the chosen people would be the most trust worthy that we can get. They should also be combat ready at all times. I don't know where this is going to go, but I do know that whatever this threat is, it's dangerous to everything and everyone, especially those involved. Keep your guards up," I concluded. Jill, PJ and Celeste all gave me an odd look. I knew just as well as they did that my manner of speaking was changing to a much more serious tone. Celeste shivered at the thought of me scolding her later.

"That sums everything up nicely. You are all dismissed," Rufus sighed. Everyone got up to leave.

"Is everything okay?" Jill asked me, completely concerned. I looked at her and smiled falsely.

"Everything's just fine. I just need to talk to Celeste about something, alone. Could you take this mouse with you?" I responded. Jill shuddered, catching the hint right away. She picked the tiny mouse off of my shoulder and placed her on hers.

"Alright. But come see me later, okay?" she said as she turned to leave. I nodded and waited for everyone else to leave. Finally, Celeste and I were completely alone in the meeting room.

"Celeste, who was that person talking to you in your head?" I demanded, getting right into business. I stood against the door so she couldn't run out on me.

"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently. Her attempt to dodge the question failed miserably. I gave her my "no nonsense" look and place my hands on my hips. To say the least, I was reminding myself of Jill. This didn't look good for my future.

"You can't lie to me. I'm a telepath, remember? You were thinking about that night during the meeting. On top of that, you're nervous, you haven't told even PJ what happened, and I need to know about it now. What happens if the voice takes you in the wrong direction? What if it tries to get you killed?" I reasoned, kicking back at the door to get Reno to stop listening in. I could satisfyingly hear him plop to the ground outside of the room. I growled at the door. The footsteps left quickly. Celeste just stared at me darkly. I kept my unfazed tone, allowing my aura to show that I was just concerned.

"What I'm trying to get at is that I'm concerned about you. We're in this one together. If you can't trust me with what's bothering you, how can any of this end well?" I sighed, letting one of my arms drop. She just stared blankly for a moment. I tapped my foot slowly and growled lightly to bring her attention back out of her head. When she jumped, I let out a canine purr to reconstruct my concerned aura.

"It's really hard to take you seriously in that mini skirt," Celeste sighed. I blushed.

"Don't change the topic! The mini skirt's Jill's fault! Just look at my face, okay?" I cried in embarrassment. My tail shot out and covered my legs again. Celeste giggled a little. I sighed and rubbed my head.

"Anyways… Can you at least give me a name? I just want to help. That and I want to make sure you don't have a possibility of dying late in the future." Celeste went silent again. She was contemplating on telling me off or saying that I had no proof.

"Don't even try those tactics. They'll fail, like your mental walls right now. I know for a fact you had a conversation with some unknown entity in your head in that meadow, possibly earlier as well. She called you "master" and she said that you were impatient. That's all I overheard, but the sound was way to clear for comfort," I continued. Celeste flinched. I hit something key in what I just said. I hid the tiny grin trying to creep onto my face. Celeste sighed in defeat.

"It was Scari," she told me reluctantly.

"Scari? Seriously?" I asked in shock. Scari was the last person I expected it to be. But then again, she did have a name change a long time ago. That name completely escaped me. Sometimes, I wish that I didn't forget all the crap that I did.

"This is going to be troublesome…" I sighed, "First premonition dreams, then Nemesis, now voices. What the hell is happening to us?"

"You mean you had a voice in your head too?"

"I tried to tell you, but it kept slipping my mind. You know how forgetful I am. Only remember things when it's either too late or really important."

"What's with you lately? You've been acting strange too, you know! Your way of speaking just changed all of a sudden, you seem to be having mood swings, and it just seems like I don't really know you anymore!" I had to admit, it was a pretty good argument. But with every argument, there is a counter.

"It's time to get a little more serious. For me anyways. I'm almost twenty, human years. Even though that's still not even a year old in Fleurian years, most Beastial Elves begin "losing their baby feathers" at this age. Besides, I'm still me. I just got a little attitude adjustment," I responded coolly. I only just now noticed how sad I actually sounded. Celeste calmed down, kind of depressed. I sighed.

"I'm done, for now. If she contacts you again, I want to know about it, okay? And in return, if something like that happens to me, I'll tell you first, okay?" I said, placing both of my hands on her shoulders. She nodded slowly.

"Good. Now, Jill wanted to talk to me about something. Cheer up, okay?" I put my hand under her chin and lifted her eyes to mine. I flashed a smile to show her that I was sincere. Celeste smiled a little. I grinned a little and tickled her. She began to giggle and was eventually thrown into a laughing fit. I soon stopped and let her go. We went our separate ways after telling each other to cheer up.

After a bit of wandering, I found Jill. She was at a shooting range. Go figure.

"You told her what you needed to say?" Jill asked me. She loaded another clip into her gun. It seemed as though she was testing ammunition.

"Yeah, I did. Where's the mouse?" I responded. I pulled out my hunting rifle from my bag and fired a perfect head shot on a moving target.

"Nice shot. And don't worry she's safe. She's in the corner with a few celery sticks. Seems that the gunshots don't bother her," Jill answered, not even looking over at me. She fired three rounds, all hitting in a straight line from the chest to the head.

"Thanks. That's an interesting shot. Anyways, you wanted to tell me something?" I said, switching for my Samurai Edge. I aimed properly and fired two decent shots.

"Yeah. I remembered something during the meeting. I didn't want anyone else to know, but you might want to relay the information off to Celeste and Pajashok." Jill fired two headshots.

"I'll make sure to do that." I fired a couple of headshots and an accidental nutshot. We both cringed at the thought of the poor guy that target could have been. We glanced at each other and returned to the conversation and practice shots.

"Anyways, they said something about you and Celeste being in greater danger than you think. They also injected us with something, but considering my fuzzy vision in the memory, I was either just going into a sedated sleep or incompatible with the substance. I remember Claire screaming at the top of her lungs, but after that, I start drawing blanks again. No drawing jokes." Jill shot almost all the targets on the right as she spoke. I snickered at the last insertion.

"I'll make sure to tell them that. Are you okay though? From the way you're shaking, it seemed to be a bumpy ride, or traumatic." I got the ones she missed and worked my way to the middle. She didn't seem to know that she was shaking.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just a first time in space thing." Jill got a few good shots in.

"I wasn't shaking when I went through the first time. But it could be from the crash. Who knows? And don't worry, we'll find Chris." I shot a good portion of the left side targets. Jill blushed a bright red, causing me to chuckle. I put my guns away and grabbed some extra ammunition for my Samurai Edge. Jill put a hand on my shoulder.

"When you do find him, punch him in the arm for me. He'll explain it later," she sighed, "And I'll take care of the mouse for you." I turned to face her.

"Thanks. Let's call her Chi for now. We can't keep calling her "the mouse", after all," I chuckled. Jill smiled and picked up Chi. Chi rubbed my cheek before returning to Jill's shoulder. I turned to leave the room.

"Oh and before I forget, Aerith wanted me to tell you that your normal outfit won't be ready until you get back from the next world. It needed washing and fixing…" Jill and chi both flinched as I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought about what this meant for a minute or so.

"_YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO TO THE NEXT WORLD IN A MINI SKIRT?"_


	26. Chapter 26

After a quick cheer up to each other, Vicki and I went our separate ways. Wandering aimlessly a bit I suddenly remembered Larxene was a somebody now and in Radiant Garden! But, I had no idea where she was exactly. So I started asking anyone I found, but no one really knew exactly where she was. Finally, I found out that Larxene wasn't in the castle at all, but wandering the town. And had been since she arrived here. So, I had a bit of searching to do yet.

I had walked out into the town and tried to think of where she would be. She might be in the place where Sora fought the 1000 heartless so I decided to start there.

"This would be easier if it wasn't so big, no wonder someone would hide here. But is she here?" I thought out loud to myself. I heard a noise coming up from ahead of me and went to investigate. As I made it to the cliff that marked the end I found Larxene, still looking guilt ridden.

"Larxene?" I half whispered.

"Who's there? Go away if you know what's good for you!" She growled not looking at me.

"Well that's not nice seeing as I gave you a heart." At that she snapped around and stared wide eyed at me. I saw a bunch of emotions pass through her eyes at once; relief, guilt, sadness, and fear.

"Why are you here?" She whimpered looking back down the cliff.

"I wanted to know if you're okay, is that a crime?" I was really careful not to sound angry; I mean, all the guilt she never felt as a nobody to suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks? It's amazing that she was able to fight against Marluxia, twice as impressive since she was a pokémon at the time too.

"But why would you care? All I've done is hurt you and those around me. I don't deserve your sympathy." She mumbled.

"Well you gunna get it anyway. Who wouldn't have done what you did to get your heart back?" Apparently I hit a button.

"What's the point of that? Everyone hates me anyway without even trying to think about what you said. What does it matter if no one put's themselves in my shoes?"

I refrained from making a joke about walking in someone's shoes and instead hugged her.

"You wouldn't know what to say if you were in their position either." I tried to reason.

"But now I don't even have anyone I can rely on." she whispered. It was then I noticed she wasn't wearing the orgy's cloak but instead, a pair of skinny jeans, and a black t-shirt, as well as a pair of tight boots, that were close to the old ones from the org, but shorter.

"What happened after the fight?" I didn't want to be blunt but I didn't know how to beat around the bush either.

"Marluxia was going to take me back to get a fitting punishment from the organization as an attempt to get him out of blame, so I opened a dark portal and ran to the first place that came to mind." She was holding back tears. "I can only imagine what punishment he's receiving and it's entirely my fault. He's never going to forgive me."

"It's not your fault; it's his for trying to turn the blame to you. I'm sure once he gets a heart he'll realize how bad he's been to you and travel to the ends of this universe to apologize." I smiled. It felt weird talking like this but I didn't want her to wallow in self-pity the rest of her life. "Do you want to go back to the castle with me? No one is going to judge you, and if they do, I'll fix them right quick." I said pumping my fist into the air. And for the first time, I saw her give me a genuine smile.

"What about Sora? He'll probably try to mutilate me." Larxene shivered.

"I'll make sure that won't happen, you have my word." I grinned.

As we walked back to the castle I saw P.J. at the entrance.

"How did I know you'd be the one to converse with her first Celeste?" He sighed as we walked in.

As we walked in we were interrupted by loud shouting:

"_YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO TO THE NEXT WORLD IN A MINI SKIRT?" _It sounded like Vicki. I had to stifle my laughter. P.J. shook his head while Larxene stared ahead confused.

"I'm guessing that Vicki's clothes are still dirty." I sighed. "You think with all the other crap, Yuffie would've packed-" Did Yuffie pack clothes into our pouches with everything else? I didn't have time to look because I was tacked to the ground.

"That sounded like thunder! Does Vicki control Thunder?" Rikku was on top of me hugging me so hard I thought my ribs were going to burst.

"Can't. Breath. Larxene. Help!" Larxene nodded and casted thunder a bit down the hall, being careful to make sure no one attracted it to them. Rikku ran away screaming, and then Vicki and a few other people showed up to see me holding my sides trying to breathe.

"We heard thunder! Did Larxene attack you?" Sora jumped right to the defensive against Larxene.

"For your information, I asked her to help me get Rikku away." I panted standing up and leaning on Larxene for support. "She casted it a bit away to scare her from her death grip." A few people nodded in understanding.

"And you were yelling Vicki because?" I hid my smirk as her face heated up.

"I don't have a change of clothes." She mumbled. _'I'll talk to you later.' _I thought to her and saw her nod.

After everyone wandered off and finding out we'd be leaving after dinner, I walked up to Vicki with Larxene. I half wondered why she hasn't left my side but I assumed it was a comfort thing.

"So, no one has any clothes for you to borrow?" I asked starting conversation.

"I only fit Arieth's clothes, and you know my hatred for dresses." We both chuckled at the memories.

"And Yuffie never packed us any clothes." I said randomly checking my bag since I failed to do so earlier.

"So guess we just wait for dinner?" I questioned as my stomach growled. Vicki and P.J. shook their heads as Larxene looked like there was something wrong with me. I guess anyone would, seeing as my stomach sounds like it's howling when it growls.

We pretty much passed the time talking about nothing until dinner arrived. When we went down, it was pretty much like lunch time in high school, you get food and go away. A few people were lingering around eating, but we ended up wandering outside. For once it was sunny and warm. Sitting around was Larxene, Vicki, P.J, Jill, Aerith, and Reno.

"So, why is Reno here too?" Vicki asked with annoyance. She obviously doesn't let things go easily, which made it awkward since I was sitting between him and Larxene.

"It's a free country and Rude is a bummer sometimes." He replied.

I quietly munched some sushi that I had on my plate looking around. Letting my thoughts wander to Organization XIII, if they were all alive, was Roxas there too? Or was he inside Sora? I started thinking about what Marluxia must be going through too. Its amazing Larxene didn't seem as depressed as when I found her. I left my own thoughts long enough to hear Vicki shout at Reno.

"Giving me this was your idea!" I felt Reno flinch next to me and looked at Vicki.

"There's no need to fight Vicki, besides you could've ended up in worse clothing right?" I tried to calm her down. Vicki seemed to think about this a minute before blushing. She slowly walked over to Reno and decked him in the face before sitting back down. I saw Larxene smirk from the corner of my eye as I ran over to Reno who had flew a few feet from the blow.

"Vicki! Even if it was his fault that was uncalled for!" I swear I heard 'my ass' from behind me but I didn't know who it was anyway.

"Why are you even defending him anyway Celeste?" Well Larxene's attitude was still there. I felt my face heat up and Reno smirked.

"I just, don't like pointless quarrels. That's all." I mumbled as I sat down. The rest of the conversation blurred from my mind as I thought about how hypocritical I sounded. I always had quarrels with my siblings about pointless things. It's amazing how much you take for granted when it's there. Then my mind started to move to random memories of my family like a home movie projecting in my brain. Which brought me to the fact P.J. was the only sort of family I had left. It made me determined to protect him, even if he doesn't want it. The last part made me smile.

"So it's decided. Larxene can come with us." P.J. stated as we walked towards a Gummi ship.

"You guys should use the bigger one, more space for the seven on ya." Cid stated from the entrance of the garage.

"This will be so fun!" I shouted, taking Larxene's hand and running up the ship. This wasn't like me as of late earning me a couple stares. "Well come on, we don't have all year!" I drawled letting go of Larxene and entering the ship. When everyone was in the ship they saw I was under the control board.

"Celeste? What are you doing?" Riku asked as they walked in.

"It's a newer model so I was seeing how it's rigged s'all." I grinned crawling back out.

"Well, I'm done." I stated going to the cabin of the ship. "So I'm gunna take a nap. Call me when we get there." And with that I took my leave. Being a freak randomly almost made me feel back at home. I just hoped that they would fall for the mask as easy as my family did when I was depressed. I hate to worry people. I don't want to be a burden again.

"Celeste! We've landed! And you'll never guess where!" Vicki stated happily as she jumped onto the bed I was resting in.

"I don't know, but it better have Pepsi." I groaned. It felt like withdrawal going this long without my favored beverage.

"It probably does. We'll just have to ask _Dante._" I hit my head the nightstand whipping my head around so fast.

"Oww." I mumbled. "So long as I don't have to eat pizza." I said as I got up.

"Excuse me; do you know where Devil May Cry is?" I asked a random passerby in a sweet tone. The person in question turned to me.

"Now why would a pretty thing like you want to go somewhere like that? If you'd like I'll take you to my place for some better entertainment." Great, a pervert. Thankfully Larxene took the stand, grabbing his throat and slamming him into a wall.

"Listen bub, if you value your body staying in one piece I'd advise you tell us the directions we asked for okay." She growled as she placed a kunai to his throat

"I don't know where it is! Honest!" The man looked ready to piss himself.

"He's telling the truth." Vicki sighed.

"Not worth our time." Riku muttered as Sora followed him followed by a scared looking Kairi. Larxene let go and the man headed for the hills.

"Couldn't help hearing you wanted to go to Devil May Cry?" Someone behind us asked. We turned around and saw I man with bright green eyes and thin greasy black hair. 'eww' I thought. "It just so happens I was going there myself, you can follow me if you will." He said as we walked with him. Something didn't seem to sit right with any of us with this guy but we went none the less.

About 10 minutes later we made it and I saw the glowing sign of his shop.

"Hey we found it! Thank you-" The man had grabbed Kairi in a flash and now had her with a demonic hand to her throat.

"One step and the girl gets it. Now go in there and bring the son of Sparta out." His voice had a demonic sound to it.

"Damn if I will." I shouted as Vicki and I released our wings and took off, me with my scythes and Vicki with her Samurai edge.

"You really are stupid." He yelled as he began to slit Kairi's throat in a flash I traced a line against my wrist deeply causing him to stop and grab his dangling hand.

"You'll pay f-" And headshot courtesy of Vicki.

"Thanks guys." Kairi gasped as Sora ran over to her.

"That'll teach him no-" _Bang_ I looked down to see a gun shot. I turned around quickly just to be shot more and fell to the ground.

"Celeste!" Kairi shouted.

Vicki looked up to see a gun pointed at her. "What do you want?" Dante asked looking at Vicki.

"We wanted to find you." I answered getting up fully healed. This caught him by surprise and he pointed the gun back at me.

"Oi, we don't want to harm you." I stated as I turned my weapons back to ribbon form.

"You're not from around here are you?" He said looking at each of us in turn taking the longest look to Vicki's miniskirt causing her to blush.

"Eyes above the neck hot stuff." I growled.

"Oh, so you think I'm hot do ya little doomy?" Dante smirked suggestively.

"Oh you're heading for Doom if you keep that up." Larxene sneered.

"You're right; they're too inexperienced for me. You on the other hand." He was stopped short by a Kunai at his throat. "Oh Kinky. Didn't know you liked it that way."

"Can it! We just want info and to lock the world and we'll leave you alone." She sneered. P.J. stepped in.

"We'd like to know a little bit about any abnormalities, is what we're saying." He stated putting a hand on Larxene's shoulder.

"Well you came to the right place then!" He stated proudly, yet boredly. "Come in and I'll fill ya in on the details." And half of us grudgingly followed him in.

_'Pervert.'_ I thought.


	27. Chapter 27

I was embarrassed, to say the least. At least I expected it. I allowed my wings a little time to stretch as we walked in to the shop. Good thing it looked like I had hoped for. The office was a mess, as always. The normality sank in as I got a sudden feeling off impending doom. I looked around frantically.

"Vicki? Is everything okay?" Celeste asked me. I was just about to answer when, in a split second, I was on the ground. My vision was blurred by dark hair. I struggled uselessly on the ground, while my attacker proceeded to… hug me?

"Vicki! You're here!" the person giggled, "Hi Celeste, PJ, Riku, Sora and Kairi!" I recognized the voice immediately.

"Zoey! You live!" I chuckled. I could feel Larxene's stare. From what I could read off of that, she was highly confused. Celeste sighed in relief.

"These guys, some of the friends you were looking for?" Dante asked coolly. Zoey nodded, giving me just enough room to see.

"But they weren't the ones I was expecting," Zoey replied, sitting on my legs. I sat up, letting my wings retract into my back again. Zoey looked me up and down for a minute.

"You look different," she observed. Her head tilted to the side.

"I can change my features. Might be a side effect from the initial "change"," I attempted to explain.

"But you're in a miniskirt…" she chuckled. I twitched.

"Blame Jill and Reno," I grumbled.

"You saw Jill? Where is she?" Zoey near shouted.

"Radiant Gardens, where you're headed as soon as we're done here," I sighed. Zoey looked kind of mixed about hearing that. I just sighed again and fell back.

"Can you get off me now? That couch looks a hell of a lot more comfortable than the floor," I said. She giggled as she released me. I bounded for the couch and flopped down on it. I caught the last bit of the explanation PJ was giving to Dante. I purred slightly, curling up on the couch. Celeste sat next to me with Larxene following suite. I looked at the two. Both seemed a little uncomfortable.

'Now what the hell is wrong?' I sighed in my mind. Celeste jumped and stared at me. I stared right back.

"What?" I asked.

"Uh… a lot of things are wrong?" she responded, paling a little. I paled right up. Larxene stared us like we were crazy.

"I'm going to blame the Espeon form right away," I stated, curling up again.

"I'm going to agree with you," Celeste said, shuddering.

'I wonder what else I can do that I don't know about,' I thought to myself. I shivered and fell asleep for a while.

I was woken up only a couple hours later. I pulled the blanket that had suddenly appeared over my head and moaned. The blanket was yanked away from me, accidentally causing me to roll off the couch.

"Wha?" I shouted as I hit the ground with my side. I blinked and looked up. It was Zoey. I looked around for the others.

"Where's everyone else…?" I asked innocently. Zoey hissed as her eyes turned red.

"Shit… demon…" I muttered, bolting for the door. Unfortunately, running into doors does not open them in this world. I fell on my back as the demon shifted from Zoey's form to a hideous anthromorphic manticore. I cringed in pain as it grabbed my neck and slammed me into a wall.

"Where is Dante, Son of Sparta?" it hissed.

"Like hell I'd tell you!" I roared, slamming my foot into its chest. The demon just laughed at me.

"You are such a weak little human," he taunted. I was beginning to gasp for air.

"Human…? No way... am I… human…" I growled. My entire body began to glow an acidic green. The demon seemed to be taken back for a moment. Spat in its face and screeched. It dropped me, screaming and trying to wipe my acid saliva off of its face. I wasted no time in pulling out my Samurai Edge. I fired two decent shots into its chest. It fell back with a loud thud. I took that chance to get the hell out of dodge. This time, I managed to open the door first. The daylight stung my eyes for a moment. I could hear the demon getting back up with a moan.

"What's it going to take to kill this guy?" I wondered out loud. Then the thought came to me. Every living thing has a "cranial flaw", meaning a bullet can go right through the skull. I ran again as the demon burst out of the Devil May Cry's front door. I spun around and switched to my shotgun. The demon seemed to laugh as it changed back to Zoey's form. I hissed at it. It pulled out a gun and shot at me. Amazingly, I dodged the bullet. A wind barrier flew around me as I ran at it. The demon dodged my attacks that I had sent at it. It was definitely a close combat demon. I shot a single shell into the demon. It roared at me.

"What are you? You are too fast for a human," it cried.

"What I am is not important. What is is why you are looking for Dante, and why you tried killing me for the information," I said simply. It just roared again. I switched back to my Samurai Edge and fired at its head. It dodged the bullets masterfully.

"Hm." I pushed my hand forward, letting a rush of hot wind smack right into the demon. The demon howled in pain. I appeared in a second in front of the demon and slashed its body with Water Song. I made the wind protect me from getting blood splatters on my outfit as it changed back. The demon smacked me away, sending me onto a roof. I coughed a little as I attempted to stand again. I didn't have time to move before it smacked me away again. I rolled to the edge of the roof. I had just managed to roll out of the way on time. I got up and slammed wind into it again, just pushing it off the building. It flew at me, claws extending. In a failed attempt to dodge, it grabbed my arm and ascended into the sky. I swung my body upwards and kneed it in the face. It dropped me about twelve stories up from the ground. Out of panic, I curled into a ball. I stopped falling only after what felt like two stories. I opened my eyes to see that I was floating.

"Duh… Wind element," I mumbled, feeling really stupid. I had no time to relax, for the demon was on my tail again. I panicked again and sent a rush of wind at it. It went thin and pierced its gut. I screeched, sending it falling in a spiral to the ground. It sent out a lightning bolt into me. I screamed in pain, losing all concentration and falling to the ground. I tried to regain myself, but my body was paralyzed. At about five stories from the ground, someone caught me. The electricity flew out of my chest and right into the manticore demon once I made contact with. I breathed heavily as the person landed softly.

"Celeste…? That you…?" I muttered, my paralysis finally going away.

"You bet I am," Celeste chuckled. Zoey was with us in a second.

"Is she okay?" she asked in concern.

"I'm fine. Just pissed off," I growled as Celeste put me down. I shook violently, letting the remaining static fly out of my body. Of course, that gave me an idea. The demon landed with a thud in front of us. It hissed at us, causing Zoey to take a step back. Understandable, considering zombies were her thing, not demons. Celeste and I bolted forward.

'Careful, it specializes in close combat,' thought to Celeste. Celeste nodded as we attacked head on. Celeste placed both Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu on its shoulders and pulled back. It screamed in pain as blood flew up into the air. Some of the blood splashed onto us, shocking us both. I stored and amplified the electricity. I slashed it with Water Song again and bounded away. Celeste slammed it into a wall. By this time, Zoey recovered from her fear and had started to give us cover fire.

'About time,' I thought to myself. As a test to my idea, I pulled out my Samurai Edge again and shot a single round at the beast. Celeste got away just in time for the bullet to hit the demon in the middle of its chest. I found that I could get the effect I wanted. As I thought, this electricity charged bullet caused more damage than a regular bullet. Celeste pulled out her Chicago Typewriter and fired a sweep into the demon. The demon was hit by all of them. It roared as it stood creating an electrified shield around it. It sent bolts of lightning at all of us. Celeste and Zoey dodged, but I let myself get hit. I screamed in pain, trying to absorb as much of the lightning as I could withstand. I had stored a good amount when the demon slammed me into the ground.

"Vicki!" Celeste and Zoey cried. I pretended to be out cold. It worked, because the demon moved on the offensive to Celeste and Zoey. Celeste went into a berserk rage and started to throw the demon around. Zoey ran up to me and checked my vitals. She gasped when I pushed myself up. I shushed her and pulled out my hunting rifle. I was careful with my aim. Electricity flowed into the bullets in the gun. Once I was sure that each bullet had the same amount of electricity in them, I expelled the rest of the electricity into the rest of my ammunition. Celeste threw the demon into the air. I took that chance to fire a round into the demon's back. It shrieked in pain as Celeste noticed I was up. She spun her body around, cutting deep into the demon's body with her scythes. She flipped and slammed her leg into the demon, sending it spiraling downwards into the ground. She then drew wounds on herself, which appeared onto the demon. The demon's body broke into the ground.

Celeste landed next to me and Zoey.

"Damn Vicki! You scared us! Are you okay?" she asked.

"Kinda sort of, yes no," I responded with a chuckle. That was my way of saying "I don't know" without actually saying it. Celeste chuckled. I felt a sudden pain in my chest and collapsed.

"Vicki!" was the last thing I heard before blacking out.


	28. Chapter 28

Vicki! Zoey and I both shouted as Vicki slipped into unconsciousness. Leave it to her to fight without calling for help.

"Let's get her back inside." I suggested as Zoey nodded.

"You guys didn't wake me to join the party." Dante said sarcastically as he walked in to join the others in the main room. Of course not wearing a shirt. From the corner of my eye I saw both Zoey and Kairi blushing.

"Thanks for the general concern for my friend you mercilessly hit on earlier." I growled low concentrating on Vicki to heal her a bit. Her insides must be fried after what she endured.

"Whoa, easy babe." He put his hands up in defense. "Look, get her all better and I'll let you come with me. I got a report of some strange demons that might be your heartless." With that he walked out to do whatever the hell he does.

"I can't believe it took me so long to get to her. I was too lazy to get the hell up. And then it took me a while to realize what was happening."

"Sorry, if I had gotten there sooner either; I could've absorbed the lightning." Larxene said raiding Dante's fridge. "God there's nothing to eat here." I chuckled at her comment.

"And the rest of us must be heavy sleepers." Zoey said.

"So seeing as Vicki'll wake up soon, does it seem weird nothing else like what happened to us in raccoon city is happening again?" Without thinking I knocked on the wooden tabletop next to me as to not jinx myself, earning me a few stares.

"Knowing how determined whoever it is seems to be about getting us we'll probably face them sooner or later." P.J. stated.

"And hopefully we'll be able to lock this world from them too." Sora said as he stretched.

"And figure out who's after all of us." Riku said as he absentmindedly looked out the window.

"So, we all set to go now?" Dante asked as he fastened his sword to his back and opened the door.

"Where exactly are we going?" Kairi asked as we walked out of the shop.

"Well babe, were going on a family reunion. From what I heard my brother's there as well, so he might have something to do with all of this as well." I saw Kairi shift uncomfortably from the 'babe' comment.

"How exactly are we getting there?" Sora asked.

"Hitching a ride." Dante grinned as we went forward.

Apparently hitching a ride meant being stow aways on a train.

"So...How long we gunna be on this crappy thing?" I asked boredly as we all snuck onto a cart that was pretty much vacant.

"Couple days babe." Dante replied as he kicked his feet onto the top of the seat infront of him.

"What about food?" Zoey replied.

"I'm guessing we'll have to steal it." Vicki didn't seem too impressed by the looks of it.

"Exactly. So who'll go steal it first?" Dante looked like he was enjoying it too much.

"I'll be back in a minute." P.J. sighed as he went to the next car, heading towards the kitchen.

"Well, didn't expect that at all." I stared blankly at the door. "I hope he doesn't get caught." I mumbled.

"What is he? Your boyfriend or something?" Dante said sarcastically. "From what he told me he can take care of himself."  
"First of all, he's my brother. Second of all, what exactly did he tell you?" I growled.

"That his real name is Pajashok, that he's a Turk, a shape shifter, and can use any weapon he comes in contact with." He added as an afterthought. "Maybe I'd let him use my sword sometime." That was unexpected. And I completely forgot that P.J. was able to shapeshift.

"Wait, P.J. can shapeshift!" Sora said shocked. I forgot that he Riku and Kairi never saw him shapeshift.

"Yeah, he's was disguised as Celeste's pet dog for four years." Vicki seemed as amused as I was about their lack of knowledge on the subject. But even I didn't know about his ability to use weapons. Could he use a keyblade?

"Wow, did you know about that?" Kairi asked amazed.

"Not until we were attacked by Turks." I smiled at how we forgot to tell them about how we came to meet them.

A little bit later after telling them everything from the experiments from Hojo to the naked moment with P.J. and Yuffie. P.J. finally came into the cart with large boxes of food.

"How'd you manage this?" I asked munching on some fruit.

"It's easy when you know what to say." He shrugged.

"We should just leave you to collect the food from now on." Larxene said as she grabbed a muffin. P.J. just grunted in response.

Our journey ended when we made it to our destination. Nothing else much was said and we had managed to steal a lot of food without getting caught. It made me a little suspicious, but I shrugged it off for now as being paranoid.

"That castle in the distance is where the heartless are said to keep coming from, the keyhole might be in there." Dante said as we walked through the town leading up to it.

"Where is everybody?" Zoey asked looking around.

"Probably fell victim to the heartless."Vicki said as we continued.

"I hear something." Larxene growled, summoning her kunai. Suddenly a bunch of heartless jumped out.

"Finally some action." Dante said happily as he sauntered forward.

"Careful, they're not like demons, if they injure you badly, consider yourself dead." I snapped trying to bring his ego down enough to keep him level headed.

"Whatever babe. Maybe I can finally see what you can do." He smirked as he sliced a heartless in half.

"Keep your thoughts in your head hot stuff." I growled as I summoned my scythes and spun around in a half circle with my scythes extended out.

"Can do babe." It took everything I had now to stab him. So I took my anger out on the heartless.

"There's too many of them." Kairi yelled as she sliced another, just to be surrounded by ten more.

"And too many are replacing the too many." I yelled slicing up my arm and falling another heartless.

Suddenly, we were surrounded by a barrage of bullets.

"Huh? What's going on?" Larxene looked around frantically.

From the other end of the ground we saw two figures coming closer, surprisingly killing the rest of the heartless.

"Thanks you saved- Frances?" Riku looked surprised as the two figures made themselves visible. It was Frances and Chris Redfield.

"Zoey? You're okay." Frances said as he lowered his guns. "Looks like our friends ended up here too." He said nodding his head in our direction.

After a few introductions and an explanation to Chris about our situation, we continued to the castle.

"So, you've just been fighting heartless this whole time?" Zoey questioned looking at Frances amazed.

"Did you hear anything from the castle?" Dante had a serious expression on his face. Creepy.

"Well we sometimes saw some white haired fellow conversing with some guy with long black dreadlocks." Chris replied.

"Xaldin?" Larxene questioned quietly.

"You mean the one that controls wind?" Sora asked. He didn't seem all too excited to see him.

"Probably." I shrugged going into the castle.

"You're just going to walk in like that?" Chris asked looking perplexed.

"What's gunna stop me." As soon as I finished that sentence something came up and stabbed me through the gut. I looked behind me and grinned darkly.

"What are you smiling so happily about human?" The demon hissed at me.

I looked forward towards the group. "I just realized how hungry I am. That's all." A couple people looked shocked that I was acting like nothing was happening. Even Dante who had seen me get up after he shot me seventeen times.

"Allow me to get rid of your hunger permanently...What?" The looked of shock stayed on his face as I ate his soul.

"It may not be permanent, but I appreciate your cooperation." I smiled as I pulled the offending weapon out of my gut and continued inward. "Well come on! We don't have all day." I walked in followed by Vicki, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Larxene. As the rest started to follow I grinned as I heard someone say. 'Son of a bitch.'

After three hours of killing heartless and me getting to eat every demon soul we were almost to the top when we heard a figure behind us.

"Dante!" We looked around to find Nero running up to the group. "Who are these people?" He asked looking at all of us. Another round of intros.

"What are you doing here?" Vicki was the one to ask the first question directed at him.

"I heard about Vergil causing up trouble here, I had to join in the fun." Nero still didn't look too happy.

"Well let's go then! I'm almost anxious to meet this person." Sora seemed slightly out of character to me. I just shrugged and stayed near the back near Nero.

"That the real reason you're here, or part of it?" He avoided eye contact before replying quietly. "I just need to find something out." I nodded and dropped the conversation.

Well it was amusing to see Nero's shocked face when I ate souls. But before we knew it we made it to the roof of the castle.

"It's Xaldin alright." Larxene said trying to be quiet.

"And Vergil." Dante didn't seem all to worried about hiding.

"Why are they together?" Vicki looked to me to see I was walking towards them.

"What the hell are you doing!" Nice Chris. Real nice.

"I was trying to sneak up and get closer." I grumbled.

"That's who I told you about. Do what you will with the others, but follow my orders for her and you can keep control of the heartless." Xaldin used his wind powers to go to another part of the roof, far away from the rest of us.

"Oh not this shit again." I growled running to the end to go after him. Just to be stopped by a barrage of demons. "Great."

"Why leave? You're just in time to see me destroy your friends." Vergil said motioning to the group now coming out into the open.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I growled.

"You're the only one needed alive." _Fun._


	29. Chapter 29

"You're the only one needed alive."

Those words shot down my spine, causing a violent shiver. Although my body wasn't ready for it, I knew a fight was coming up. I swore under my breath.  
"Pajashok, make sure no one follows me," I said as I bolted away from the group.  
"Ji- I mean Vicki! What are you doing?" Chris yelled, as a demon jumped out at me, only to be smacked away with my wind. I had a hard time not laughing at him. The wind grabbed me and brought me over to Celeste, who was already struggling with the demons. I punched forward, throwing them down. My aura reappeared around me. It seemed as though this only happened when I was pissed. Celeste sucked out a couple of souls and stopped suddenly.  
'Almost got another heart?' I asked her through my suddenly much better telepathy.  
'Yeah, but this could get ugly. I don't wanna make another heart, just in case,' she thought back. I sighed.  
'Let us have a talk with Dreads over there, shall we?' I snickered telepathically. Celeste nodded, snickering to herself. I moved the wind around us and brought us over to Xaldin. Xaldin dispelled my wind. We landed softly in front of him. I growled at him. Xaldin just laughed.

"Another wind wielder, huh? This should get interesting," he chuckled. I hissed in response. Interesting didn't cut it. Annoying was more like it. Yeah, I officially lost my cool.  
"What do you want this time? A heart?" Celeste demanded.  
"Of course," he responded.  
"And what's your bribe, knowledge of our world? Our past? Our race?" I growled.  
"No, much better. Who is watching you…" he said sadistically. I shuddered at his grin. Celeste started to contemplate the trade.  
'Okay, I know this may sound stupid, but maybe we should agree,' I thought to her.  
'Are you nucking futs?' she thought back. She looked at me as though I was crazy, not that I blamed her, the idea was pretty insane.  
'Of course, we'd pull out of the deal after he gave us the information,' I sighed. She gave me a nod of understanding.  
"Okay, but you tell us who it is first," I responded.  
"Get Celeste to ingest souls first," Xaldin replied. I nodded to Celeste as she ingested souls of the demons running up to us.  
"Alright, your part of the deal. Now," I demanded. Xaldin nodded.

"Honestly, I don't know how you didn't figure this one out on your own. There is a guy named Albert Wesker, and some other girl, watching you. I can't tell you her name, but she looks like Dante," he replied.  
"Thanks. We got what we wanted. Celeste, you can stop now," I said with a grin. Honestly, Xaldin was one of my least favourite people. All I wanted was the information, and to get the hell out of there.  
"I have fulfilled my side of the deal. Why do you not fulfill your side of the deal with honour?" Xaldin crossed his arms, angered.  
"There is no honour among thieves. In all technicalities, we all just stole something here. Trust, lives, souls, patience. It doesn't matter." My grin got wider as I started to leave. Honestly, this sudden deception was odd for me. It felt like something was possessing me to dishonour the deal, not that I really cared. Two of Xaldin's lances pinned Zoey to the ground. Dragoon Nobodies appeared around her, cutting her off from everyone else. Zoey was already beginning to panic.  
"Celeste, help Zoey. I got a… training session with Stabby McDreads." Celeste nodded to me and ran to Zoey.

I turned immediately after saying that, pushing a rush of wind at Xaldin. He was surprised at the sheer force of the wind, sending him off the edge. He lifted himself up above me and came down, his remaining spears pointed at me. I rolled out of the way, grabbing him with the wind and throwing him away. I sent my wings out and flew into the air just in time to kick him in the chest. Xaldin flew back and caught himself. He sent his lances at me. I flew out of the way. Taking a quick glance at Zoey and Celeste's situation, I saw that a pair of Dragoon Nobodies were holding onto Zoey, while making sure her guns were inaccessible to her. Celeste and Francis were attacking the Nobodies. I snapped my attention back to Xaldin, who was rushing me again. I drew Water Song out of her sheath. I flew higher into the air and dove down at him. Xaldin rolled to the side, catching my arm with his lances. I flinched, rolling to the side. To say the least, a wind elemental battle was interesting. Water Song's blade combusted into flame. I swiped in Xaldin's direction, sending a stream of fire at him. I pulled back quickly, snapping the stream like a whip. The tip of the stream just grazed Xaldin's nose. Xaldin recoiled and sent his lances spinning around him. I held Water Song's blazing blade up in front of me and pushed a blast of wind forward past me. Fire and wind slammed into Xaldin's shield of wind and lances. It was absorbed into the shield. Xaldin rushed at me. I had no time to dodge his attack. As I plummeted, I sent spears of wind into his defensive, effectively breaking it up. I caught myself, grabbed Xaldin with the wind and slammed him in to the roof. I held Water Song with the wind, pulling out my guns as well. If he could do it, why couldn't I? All of my guns were pointed in various directions around me. As soon as I noticed Xaldin trying to sneak up behind me, I pulled my shotgun out of the wind cycle and fired at him. I must have caught him by surprise, for he recoiled and was hit by the electrified bullet. Thank God, I _actually_ thought _ahead_ for once. Xaldin pushed a rush of air into me, which I dispelled quickly. I fired a couple more bullets, flying upwards and away from him. He used the wind to send them off course, but I in turn turned them around and strait back at him. Looking down, I guess we were a real spectacle. No one else was truly focused on their fights, including the demons and Nobodies. I returned my attention to Xaldin. His lances formed a dragon's head as he charged up a blast of wind energy. Thinking fast, I did the same with Water Song's fire. We shot them both at the same time. The blasts collided against each other, effectively bursting each other apart. This fight already wasn't going anywhere fast, and we both knew it. Unfortunately, we were both too stubborn for our own good.

Xaldin flung his lances at me. I screeched in retaliation. He lost his focus on the lances, causing them to drop all around him. I flew forward, swinging Water Song vertically and firing off each of my guns. It was hard to focus on all of them, so I put all but the Samurai Edge away. I preferred actually holding my weapons to his false telekinetic style. I shot a couple rounds at him, sending him off course from me. Just as he recovered, I beat my wings as hard as I could, creating a whirlwind. I sent it at him as I thinned the air just enough to slice him. Xaldin dispelled it upon contact. We rushed each other again, slamming our bodies together hard. I recoiled and shot my Samurai Edge at the same time. Xaldin's arm was just barely grazed by my bullet. I swore under my breath. Xaldin managed to catch me off guard, slicing me in every possible direction with the wind. I dispelled it now beginning to lose my breath. Xaldin wasn't fairing much better. I felt something different about my body. It was suddenly burning up. I channeled the feeling to my wings, hoping for a reaction. Xaldin threw his lances at me, two of which grazed both of my wings. I howled in pain as both of my wings combusted into flame. I brought my Samurai Edge up and shot at him before I rushed at him. The electrified bullet hit him square in the chest. He shouted in shock. I rammed my flaming wings into Xaldin, sending him plummeting to the ground. My wounds slowly began to heal over. I dove down, smacking Xaldin with my wings as I passed him. I proceeded to do that a couple more times before quickly ascending and firing a barrage of bullets. I reloaded a new clip into my gun. Xaldin regained himself and threw a blast of wind at me. I shot a more powerful blast strait at him, sending both blasts into him. I held my arm out at him as he ascended up to me again. My body began to glow red, the materia in my arm now glowing bright.  
"Vicki! Don't!" Celeste called to me. I ignored her, hoping to end this battle of wind and fire sooner rather than later.  
"Red! The colour of flames! White! The colour of regeneration! Gold! The colour of majesty! Phoenix, my ally! Come forth and aid me and my allies in battle! _Phoenix_!" I declared at the top of my lungs. It was only now that I realized that this was the second time I ever used Phoenix, and I was already changing the summon chant. Hopefully I didn't black out like the last time. My red glow burst apart as Phoenix shot out and right into Xaldin's chest. I cringed at how much that must have hurt. Phoenix hovered under me, allowing me to ride on it back. I gladly accepted the offer, gently holding on to its neck. It seemed to be awaiting orders.  
"Fire Rain!" I called, thinking on the spot. Phoenix rose into the air and circled around the area. Fire rained down upon everyone below. The demons and Nobodies screamed in pain. All of my allies and friends were completely unaffected, except Zoey, who took this chance to run like hell. Xaldin was preparing to fire off a wind blast from his lances again.  
"Phoenix Flame on Xaldin!" I yelled. Although this was stressful, I was definitely having at least a little fun with this. I was already making terrible references to pokémon in my head. Phoenix drew its attention to Xaldin, shooting out a stream of fire just as he fired his charged up shot. The blasts collided and burst apart. Phoenix's attack, however, slammed right into the Nobody. Xaldin was sent into the roof top hard.  
"Rebirth Flame!" I shouted. Phoenix dove down and grazed everyone on the roof. While most burned, my allies and friends were healed. Vergil was knocked off the roof.  
"That was kind of unsatisfying," I observed. Phoenix nodded. Just as Phoenix landed, a heart popped out of Celeste's body, prompting Phoenix to heal her again. Xaldin quickly grabbed it and disappeared.

I jumped off of Phoenix and thanked it as it returned into my arm. I felt weak right away and dropped to my knees. I shrunk my wings into my back again. I breathed heavily. Fortunately, I must have gotten stronger. I wasn't blacking out.  
"Ji- I mean, Vicki, are you okay?" Chris asked, pulling my arm over his shoulder.  
"Sort of… you think you could help me walk?" I asked. Chris nodded with a smile.  
'And stop thinking that I look like Jill. Because I don't,' I thought to him, causing the older man to blush with embarrassment. I looked over at Zoey. She was crying into Francis. I motioned that I wanted to go over to her. Chris nodded and began to pull me over that way when a familiar thing happened.  
"The self destruct sequence has now been activated. Repeat: the self destruct sequence has now been activated. This sequence may not be aborted. You are all going to die," the automated voice spoke calmly over the sirens.  
"Oh come on! This is Devil May Cry! Not Resident Evil!" Celeste shouted, shaking her fist to the sky. Chris and I just swore under our breaths. Much to my shock, Chris threw me over his shoulder and bolted for the exit. I was so surprised, I couldn't speak. Celeste was chuckling at me as she ran after us, everyone else following.

At about halfway down, the castle began to crumble in on itself. I created a shield of wind above us so all everyone who was running had to focus on was not falling. Of course, a cracking noise caused me to jump and pale at the same time. Ever since Nemesis separated Celeste, Jill and I from the rest of the group the last time I heard a crack, cracks made me a little tense. The bang and "S.T.A.R.S…" that followed didn't make it any better.  
"Faster Chris! Faster!" I called in worry. Chris wasn't sure why I was shouting, but he ran faster nonetheless. Nemesis crashed behind Nero, who was last in the line. I think I paled to the point of looking like a ghost. Celeste noticed that and bolted ahead of Chris.  
"_Go! I'll stay and fight him!_" Dante shouted. No one even hesitated, although Nero stayed behind to fight Nemesis as well.

Fortunately, we made it out on time. Chris put me down a safe distance from the castle as it exploded. We all sighed in relief.  
"Wait! What about Dante? And Nero?" Zoey cried.  
"Don't worry, they'll be fine. You literally can't kill them," Celeste explained. Zoey looked at her strangely as she sat down next to me. As if on cue, both Dante and Nero burst out of the rubble and walked towards us.  
"See? I told you so," Celeste laughed. A flash of black leather caught my eye. When I looked, it was gone.  
'Great. It's either Wesker or the female-Dante,' I observed in my head. Celeste looked at me strangely, but I just shook my head. She shrugged and looked away. Just then, I remembered something I was supposed to do earlier. I pulled Chris down and punched him in the arm. Celeste wasn't even paying attention to us now.  
"Ow! Is that how you thank someone who just saved your life?" he growled.  
"No, but that was from Jill," I laughed. Chris stared at me for a second, and then sighed.  
"Then hit her back for me, will you?" he asked.  
"First, explain. Why was I supposed to hit you?" I demanded, putting my hands on my hips. He seemed to space for a minute before looking back at me.

"How did she know…?" Chris whispered.  
"Hm?"  
"She asked you to do that to jog my memory. They took some of Jill's antibodies. Claire was trying to keep the scientists away from her. Claire was saying something about a G-virus. I don't really remember it all that well. But Claire might remember everything."  
"So we have to find her before we can find out what the hell happened to you guys. Great…"  
"You mean you haven't seen her?"  
"Not yet. Anything else you can tell me?"  
"Two things, actually. Sometime before we were sent off to different worlds, I think I saw Wesker watching us with a smirk on his face. He said something, but I think I was too out of it to remember. Also, the girl who looks like Dante. She slipped me this and told me to give it to you." Chris pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it over to me. I looked at it in confusion before taking it and ripping it open. Inside was not what I expected. It was a vial of the G-virus, t-virus, t-vaccine, and Jill's antibodies. A note was attached to them.  
"Keep these safe. You won't be needing them, but I managed to take them from Wesker without him noticing. He's looking at you and Celeste for battle data. Watch your backs." I stared at the note for a few seconds before putting the vials and the note away.  
"This does not bode well," I muttered. I decided to disregard the message for now. I yawned and fell asleep on Chris's shoulder.

When I woke up, I was being carried bridal style by Chris, who apparently refused to sneak onto a train. I blushed immediately.  
"Ch-Chris! Where's everyone else?" I asked. He looked down at me and chuckled.  
"They took the train. You should rest. We'll be a while," he chuckled. I sighed, not even bothering to argue with him. I could hear a motorcycle coming towards us. Chris tensed immediately.  
"Can you walk for a while?" he asked. His tone had changed completely. I nodded slowly. He put me down and held onto his gun firmly. We continued walking for a little bit before the cyclist stopped next to us.  
"need a lift?" the cyclist asked as she pulled off her helmet. I sighed in relief as I saw that it was Lady. She smirked at us slightly.  
"Does Dante still owe you money?" I replied. Chris didn't seem to get it until I moved to get in the side car. Chris limbed in first, and then helped me into it. Unfortunately, I had to sit on his lap so we could both fit. Lady chuckled at my embarrassment.

"So, did Dante call you to pick us up?" I asked as she drove off.  
"You know him that well, huh?" Lady chuckled.  
"Unfortunately, yes. But it's all second hand information," I explained. Lady smirked again.  
"He owes me a bit more for this 'favour'. I heard you two aren't from around here anyways," she said light heartedly.  
"That's right. We're both from different worlds all together," Chris explained.  
"Oh? So you two might know something on Albert Wesker, huh?" Lady asked. Chris and I both flinched.  
"Wesker? He's been here?" we both asked at the same time. Lady nodded.  
"Told me to watch out for a Lightless and a Toxic. You know of them?" she responded. The names flew right over Chris's head. I paled.  
"What would you do to them if I told you who they were?" I questioned cautiously.  
"Avoid them if possible. Albert tried to get me to kill them, but he failed to mention whether they were demons or not," Lady explained.  
"They are like demons, but in all technicalities, aren't," I sighed.  
"Good. I didn't like the guy anyway," Lady laughed.  
"As for who they are… I'm Lightless. Celeste is Toxic. It's… the names are really complicated to explain. He only reason we know about them is from old concepts," I sighed again. I really didn't want to talk about it anymore. Lady was about to question further into it, but Chris stopped her. I guess he must have sensed it. The rest of the way to Devil May Cry was held by an awkward silence, one that none of us dared to interrupt.

Celeste was the first to greet us. Chris took me out of the side car slowly, with a look of concern on his face. Celeste looked at us strangely. I shook my head before she could ask what was wrong. Celeste just shrugged it off and went to talk to Lady.  
"Chris, I think I can walk now," I said calmly. Chris nodded and let go of me. I walked into the store, ignoring pretty much everyone around me, even with Dante verbally hitting on me. I found the way to the roof and sat down on the edge. I sighed, leaning back and thinking of the old concepts that might have been true. I rolled my shoulder, now feeling less pain from when my wings shot out and retracted.  
'A girl who looks like Dante… there's only one person I know that would pull that stunt, but there's no way she survived the Heartless wave. If she did, she's probably taking it really hard right now. I hope she's around somewhere…' I sighed. I looked up into the sky. Ever since all this crap started, this was probably the one time I could actually focus on something that was bothering me. Had others from our world survived? And if so, where were they? Did they come from our original world? Or were they from a different world? I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I nearly jumped two feet off the ground. Celeste chuckled at me and sat down. I stretched and slouched forward.

"You're really jumpy today," she laughed.  
"I guess," I sighed, looking up at the sky.  
"Is something wrong?"  
"I was just thinking about who that person was… the one Xaldin told us about."  
"The one that's supposed to look like Dante?"  
"Mm hm."  
"I don't know. But they must be pretty good to know that Chris would get that note to you."  
"The envelope had virus vials too. I've gotta keep them hidden, like the note said."  
"But where can you hide them?"  
"Where else? The one place nobody can find it… Oh! With Chris around, maybe I can find out about my lock finally!"  
"That was random…"  
"I know, but I can go back to being emo if you want."  
"No thanks. I like the more random you." We stared at each other for a moment before we burst into laughter. Neither of us were sure why, but everything still seemed a little depressing to us. Fortunately, the depression was finally beginning to wear off as we settled into the lives of travelers. With a rag-tag group of friends, weird allies, crazy powers, and even what appeared to be stalkers, we had a lot to adjust to. I sighed contently, leaning back again. Celeste stood up again and started to walk away.  
"Dinner's going to be soon. Come down when you're ready," she chuckled. I nodded, listening to her leave. I let out another sigh and lay down on the roof until it got dark. I was busy staring at the stars when Larxene popped onto the roof. The smell of pizza wafted into my nose. I sat up slowly and smiled at her.

"You didn't come down, so I thought I'd bring you something to eat," she said calmly.  
"Thanks Larxene," I replied warmly. She tossed me a blanket before setting the plate of food down. I wrapped myself up in the blanket and picked off what I wouldn't eat. I ate silently, the awkwardness settling in. Larxene and I looked at each other for a second.  
"I'm going back inside. Come down when you're ready," she mumbled, standing up and walking away. I nodded and stared up at the sky again.

I eventually came downstairs. Almost everyone was asleep. Only Chris was awake. I placed my paper plate on the desk and sat next to him. We were silent for a few moments.  
"Chris, I've had this lock for a while. Do you know anything about it?" I asked, pulling the S.T.A.R.S. lock out of my bag. He took it and fiddled with it before handing it back to me.  
"Where did you find it?" he questioned.  
"I found it in the Shinra Building during our escape from it. It's in Midgar, the world where we were first taken to and realized who we were, sort of…" I sighed. Chris patted my shoulder.  
"All I can say is that it's Jill's. If you found it there, it was probably planted for you to find. You should probably see if Jill wants it back," he explained. I nodded and got off the desk.  
"You going to sleep for a while?" I asked. Chris shook his head.  
"I'll sleep in a bit. I just want to make sure nothing else happens before I do," he sighed. I nodded and lay down on the couch, sleep quickly taking over.

I stretched as I woke up the next morning. Not much was going on yet. Chris had apparently fallen asleep in the chair. I chuckled as Celeste attempted to wake him up. I fixed my outfit and walked over to them.  
"Chris… Breakfast is ready…" I said in my best imitation of Jill's voice. Chris sprang up and almost bolted for the kitchen. He only stopped because he heard me and Celeste laughing. Francis came down the stairs to the spectacle of Chris chasing me around the shop, threatening to tickle me, with Celeste now literally on the floor laughing.

"I hate mornings," he mumbled as I hid behind him. Chris stopped, almost bumping into Francis. They stared at each other intensely. I walked away from the stairs when I was knocked down to the ground by none other than Zoey. She was giggling like crazy.  
"Pain…" I muttered into the floor, causing Zoey to help me off the floor. We stood up and joked around for a while. Soon everyone was downstairs. We all walked outside as the gummi ship landed. Finally, Rebellion floated up into the sky, glowing. I hit Chris before he could make any "holy" jokes. I chuckled as he glared at me. Rebellion pointed to the sky and shot out a beam of light, revealing the keyhole. Sora flipped backwards and locked the world.

"I guess that means we're done here," PJ stated. We all nodded. As we turned to leave, Dante placed his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him strangely.  
"Hey, Vicki, there are 265 bones in the human body. How would you like one more?" he whispered smugly. I elbowed him in the gut and moved away.  
"I have at least twelve more bones that that, so you're out of luck," I snickered. Dante shrugged with disappointment.  
"Can I at least get your number? In case something happens here," he said. I pulled my cell phone out of my hip bag. I was actually surprised it was still functioning. My cell even still had the four pokémon charms on it. I glanced at Entei and Blastoise. Entei had his leg again, and Blastoise had his cannon again. I was a little surprised that even Pikachu and Mew had been re-painted as well. They all looked like brand new.  
"I'll program you in _if_ you don't call me to hit on me," I chuckled, recovering quickly. Dante nodded in agreement, and we switched numbers.  
"Come on Vicki! We need you to pilot!" Francis called from the gummi ship. I ran over to it and jumped in.  
"Don't get too far into trouble! And thanks again for the ride, Lady!" I called as I shut the door. I sat down in the pilot's seat, grinning. I soon had us in the air. A quick glance at the ground, I saw Dante, Nero and Lady waving up at us. I waved back quickly, turning my attention back to where I was supposed to be looking. I took a second glance down and swore I saw a flash of black leather, but ignored it, setting off into the stars.


	30. Chapter 30

We were in the gummi now heading back to Radiant Garden to drop of our now added people. I watched from the back as I saw how everyone was interacting, mainly the ones that have never been on a gummi, well on it while not being drugged anyway. Zoey was attacking Vicki with a barrage of questions while she was trying to drive, Chris was trying to get Zoey away, and Frances was complaining. Larxene was sitting with me as well while laughing at Sora's gang's sweat drop faces at the scene before them. P.J. was ignoring everyone sitting away from all of us.

"How can this be faster than a space ship?" Zoey asked looking at the buttons on the dash.

"You might not want to distract her while she's driving." Chris tried to reason.

"I hate being stuck here." Frances mumbled. Larxene was laughing harder with every passing second.

"I'm gunna leave you to your laughing while I try to get some peace and quiet." I said to Larxene.

"I'm coming too." Frances grumbled. I shrugged in response walking to the cabin part of the ship. All the bunks were in the same room here. Obviously whoever built the ship didn't think about personal space. Seeing as I was stuck with Francis, I tried to strike up a conversation.

"Why do you seem to hate everyone here?" Not the smartest way to start a conversation, but you knows.

"I don't hate them I just find them annoying. How can you put up with them?" He retorted.

"I've dealt with dumber people who wouldn't even be able to last through a small fraction of what we have and still act like they'll come out on top. Those are insufferable people." I muttered bitterly. I heard him grunt.

"So everyone here isn't all unicorns and rainbows."

"I hate unicorns." I mumbled subconsciously and heard him laugh, catching me off guard.

"You weren't anything like this in Raccoon City." I couldn't read his expression.

"I had other things on my mind."

"Like looking at cracks and attacking Nemesis, I know." He waved his hand in the air.

"Whatever." I flopped on a bed and rolled over. Sleep far from my mind.

_'Who is the female Dante Xaldin was talking about? Vicki was acting strange too. Maybe she knows something about it."_ I sighed inwardly. _'Just when I finally felt things were starting to settle down, if even a little bit. I wish at least I had a home to go, something reoccurring that was normal. If I find the leader or our stalker group, or even Wesker, I'll give them the most painful death I can muster, keeping them alive just to experience more pain. Not like I need the souls for any other use besides whatever the hell the Organization wants. Why me?'_ I finally fell asleep.

"Wake up Celeste! Before I lightning shock your ass!" I snapped my eyes open to see Larxene looking at me with a smirk.

"About time, were here get off the ship." I sat up and rubbed my head.

"How long was I out?" I mumbled getting up and exiting the cabin.

"Two days. You slept like a log. Sora even tried to poke you for an hour the other day." I face palmed.

"So anyway, where's Vicki?" I asked walking off the ship to the Gummi garage.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Rikku grinned walking in and falling into step with Larxene and I. "Were you dreaming of someone last night?"

That hit a nerve, and I tried to hold back flashbacks. "I'm feeling merciful; you got 5 seconds to leave me the fuck alone." I said walking forward without looking at her. She looked at me stunned.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked touching my shoulder.

"3." She squeaked and ran away.

"Wow that was cruel even for you." Larxene mumbled walking beside me.

"Shouldn't you have something better to do too? Has anyone tried to look for Xaldin?" I didn't want to sound rude but I needed the quiet to think while I looked for Vicki. Larxene took the hint and left.

"Well someone's a bitch this morning." Cid said as he walked from some random spot in the garage.

"Shut up." I growled as I stalked off out of the garage. I walked down a random hallway and came across Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi, but brushed pass them anyway. After passing a few other people, it seemed like I was going to see everyone before Vicki.

"Well I hear you've been quite uptight today." I started to anime cry.

"What do you want Reno?" I said exasperated.

"Well no one else really is talking to me today." He said walking beside me.

"I wonder why." I mumbled walking forward.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He said walking in front of me. I stared at him without emotion.

"Make what of it you will, I could be curious as to why this is happening to you; but at the same time I could be insulting you." I replied monotone, walking passed him. "Now if you don't mind unless you can tell me where Vicki is I'm gunna leave your company for the time being." Reno looked at me shocked.

"It's like she's completely different." He mumbled as I walked away. I continued walking when I came around a corner and almost forgot I was looking for Vicki as I saw Yuna and Tidus lip locked. I smiled and was about to walk away when I heard Yuna gasp and I looked behind me to see them both beat red.

"Well seeing as I destroyed the moment, do you know where Vicki is?" I said without emotion but was laughing inside.

Red in the face Yuna replied. "She said something about the library." I nodded in response.

"Thanks and I promise I didn't see anything." I added as I walked away.

After what seemed like forever I found her at a table in the library reading through files. She seemed troubled.

"Who is she?" I went right to the point.

"What are you talking about?" Vicki said putting the book down.

"The way you were acting at DMC suggests you have some kinda idea who she is. Who is it?" My face was unreadable and my voice monotone. I saw her sigh inwardly.

_'Is it really Erin?'_ I froze. Did she mean to do that?

"Erin?" I repeated. Vicki jumped up and looked at me. I looked away. "You knew her better than me. I have no clue, you just said it."

Vicki looked at me funny. I snapped. "Why didn't you tell me you thought this in the first place?" I had a calm voice but I could hear the sting. "Why would you hide that, even if you did know her better than me? What right do you have to hide that fact someone from our past might still be alive?" I growled my voice rising.

"You're one to talk. If it wasn't for my powers I wouldn't have even known half the stuff that has happened to you, the stuff you've hidden from us?" She growled back.

"Oh so it's okay for you to know about everything and leave us behind?" My voice was rising. "What gives you the right to invade my thoughts? To have to know all parts about me? Even about people I thought I made up being in contact with me?" Vicki glared at me.

"She's made contact again hasn't she?" Vicki asked in a low dangerous voice.

"No, in fact she probably hasn't made contact since she knows you'd be in my thoughts." I snapped back. I suddenly felt her presence in my mind. I never felt her do that when she read my thoughts before. Was she reading my memory? I tried to block her out, but she left before I did.

"Yuna and Tidus kissed in front of you?" Vicki seemed stunned until she started laughing completely dropping the tension in the room. "Their faces were priceless!" Vicki started laughing.

"Yeah, don't tell them you found out." I mumbled getting up and walking away.

'_If it is Erin, are others alive too?' _I thought as I left, unnoticed by Vicki.

"Well, that was awkward." I felt bad. I knew this probably wasn't going to be the last fight between us. And I knew deep down it wasn't going to get better anytime fast.

"You should think before jumping into arguments like that. You two will obviously need each other in the future." I looked behind me to see Sephiroth.

"Leave me alone." I growled walking forward, only to be blocked by a sword.

"The memories of me might have been altered in your world but I still won't hesitate to put you in your place. You may be overwhelmed, but that gives you no reason to take it out on bystanders." His voice was cold.

"You're one to talk." I started and suddenly I was cut across the shoulder. I winced in response. And the wound wasn't healing. I felt something burst inside me and I looked at Sephiroth with a crazed hungry look. "Enemy." I said grabbing the sword by the blade and walking forward, ignoring the pain in my hand as my vision faded to nothing.

_'Master!' I looked over and saw Scari; she was a lot clearer than before too._

_'What's going on?' I started to get up._

_'You'll be fine; no one's life is in danger for now.' She replied_

_'Why are you here?' I asked standing up._

_'You're connection's getting stronger. People other than me will probably start to visit you from now on.' She said_

_'Oh this has silently been bugging me, when did you get that wolf that was here the first time?' She looked at me past her hair and answered._

_'That is the spirit of your dreams, it'll always show someone the way to you through your dreams allowing them to reach you. But it'll only show someone once. And I was able to find you all these times because I will always find my master.' I saw her smile to herself, but it was gone in a flash. 'Now I think it's time you wake up.' She added fading away._

"Celeste! Wake up!" I opened my eyes to find myself in the infirmary. I looked over to see Vicki and P.J. standing by my bedside, as well as Xaldin in the background. And lo-and-behold, Vicki was wearing her normal clothes instead of Jill's.

"Decided to join us did ya?" I asked looking at Xaldin.

"You should be thanking him, if it wasn't for him summoning some dragoon nobodies you would've killed Sephiroth, and went on a killing spree through Radiant Garden." I looked at Xaldin.

"You can still summon nobodies?" I asked curious

"It'll slowly disappear with time. I had trouble controlling them even now." He replied.

"Oh. Well...anyway, thank you. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't stepped in." I said getting up.

"Are you okay getting up?" Aerith asked as she walked in.

"I've never felt better." I said stretching them wincing as I held my arm.

"It's not going to heal the way it normally does because it was inflicted while you had no souls to expend." Aerith explained.

"So it's gunna scar?" I asked. Aerith nodded. "Sephiroth I'm going to get you back." I muttered darkly looking at my hand that also had bandages, luckily it was the right hand since I was left handed, but I probably won't be able to use Amaterasu for a while. I sighed.

"Anyway, we should continue traveling, and maybe we'll be able to find our world." I chirped thinking: _'And find out what she meant about other people.'_

"You gunna come along Xaldin?" P.J. asked looking at him in the eyes in some kind of challenge. Xaldin smirked and denied the request. I was already walking towards the gummi. "I'll never get guys." I mumbled. I reached into my pouch and pulled out my MP3 as I walked into the gummi, the sooner I find my past the better.

We ended up leaving everyone but the original six people behind, so P.J. had offered to drive and we decided to keep ourselves occupied by playing Truth or Dare. Vicki didn't want to play so she just sat and watched.

"Sora. Truth or dare?" I asked

"Dare."

"If you could have anyone here in the room to be your slave, who would it be and what would you make them do?"

"Riku, and I'd make him make me all my meals all day every day." I laughed.

"Riku, Truth or dare." Sora asked.

"Dare." Wow, noticing a trend already.

"I'm gunna go get something to eat." Vicki announced getting up. She almost seemed to bolt for the door.

"Celeste, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Might as well keep the trend.

"I dare you to stand up and sing and dance to I'm a little tea-pot. You know that song right?" Riku smirked smugly. I sighed getting up ready to lose me last shred of dignity.

"I'm a little tea pot, hear me shout." I was killing myself inside. "Here is my handle, here is my spout." I made the hand gestures. "When I get a steamed out hear me shout." I was crying so much on the inside. "Tip me over and pour me out." I sat down grumbling.

"Truth or dare Kairi." I mumbled.

"Truth." I smiled. The idiot had to find out sometime.

"Who do you like?" I smirked as she blushed.

"S-Sora." She mumbled.

"What was that?" I asked grinning ear to ear.

"I like Sora." She looked like she was about to spontaneously combust.

"Really?" Sora looked like he was already feeling guilty from the dare earlier. She nodded in response.

"Riku. Truth or dare?" She asked.

"Truth."

"If you were stranded on an island with one person, who would you want it to be?" Riku looked deep in thought. It was a funny question seeing as they lived on islands.

"Vicki, she controls wind so she can fly us off." He shrugged.

"Sora, truth or dare?"

"Truth." I yawned.

"If you were reborn, what would you want to be?" These are really innocent questions.

"A lion!" I could see the dramatic sparkly background behind him.

"Kairi, truth or dare?" Kairi blushed.

"Dare." I could imagine what she was thinking.

"Can I get some help?" I whispered in his ear. "Okay, Kairi I dare you to lick the floor." I saw her glare at me as she licked the floor.

"Celeste. Truth or dare?" I grinned

"Truth." I could feel her aura feeling annoyed then relieved. I didn't like that.

"What's the meanest thing you've done to date?" She asked. "Besides the obvious killing."

"Hmm. I tricked a guy into thinking he'd be more popular if he banged his head against a wall." I shrugged. "That's all I remember." She looked shocked.

"Riku." He chose truth.

"Have you ever gone commando?" He glared at me.

"Yes I have." He mumbled. "Kairi. Truth or dare?" He asked.

"Dare." She looked slightly bored.

"I dare you to make out with Sora for 2 minutes." I sighed and looked towards P.J. and could see him in the reflection of the windshield smirking. I looked back at the other two and Riku, it was gunna be a long 2 minutes. I almost fell asleep when I heard.

"Riku truth or dare?" I didn't even hear his answer when I heard. "I dare you to change clothes with Celeste. I snapped up.

"Just Jackets?" I asked hoping for some mercy.

"Nope I mean clothes. You know shirt, pants; the whole nine yards." Kairi smirked proud of her idea.

"Can it not be underwear?' I begged. She nodded.

"But he has to wear your bra." I face palmed.

We both walked into separate washrooms and Kairi and Sora took our clothes and swapped them. So he was wearing a black tank top, dark jeans, leather jacket my socks and my bra which looked really awkward seeing as he had no 'bust', and my shoes, who would have thought we had the same shoe size? So I was stuck wearing his black top, vest, and baggy jeans, as well as his arm warmer.

"I hope you know I'm gunna get back at you." I growled at Kairi, P.J. was laughing as we walked in.

"Sora, your turn." Riku stated as we settled down.

"Truth." Riku nodded. "What's the weirdest dream you've ever had?"

"The one I had a few days before the adventure began. With that huge black thing that swallowed me up." He stated. "Celeste?"

"Truth." He nodded. "What's the worst thing about being a girl?" Is he serious?  
"Women problems. If you don't know ask Kairi about it." I said waving my hand. "Anyway Kairi truth or dare?"

"Dare." Just then Vicki walked in and started to laugh at Riku and I. "What did I miss?" She said between gasps. She wiped a tear away from her eye.

"Kairi, I dare you to kiss Vicki." I growled. Two birds with one stone. Kairi went up and kissed Vicki on the cheek. She walked back down and looked at Riku. Vicki was left in a state of shock, dropping the pear she was about to eat. The expression of sheer horror on her face was priceless.

"Truth or dare?" "Dare." "I dare you to stand up and scream I am woman hear me roar." He sighed standing up.

"I AM WOMAN! HEAR ME ROAR!" "And you look dashing in that coat!" apparently Vicki had already gotten over the kiss for Kairi, even putting a bad accent in her sentence.

"Celeste?" "Truth." "If you had 24 hours to live what would you do?" "Get more souls." That earned a chuckle.

"Sora?" "Truth." "If you won a 100 million munny, what would you do?" "Buy all I'll ever want for the rest of my life.

At this time I decided to leave the game before it got any weirder. I walked into the cabins and flopped down on the bed. As I laid there staring at the ceiling I was flooded with memories from life before all this. All the stupid games we'd play and spending time with my best friend and boyfriend. Suddenly I noticed I couldn't remember most other people's names, just faces. This worried me but I decided to put it aside. I couldn't be losing my memory because of everything right? It was just coincidence.

_"I just hope this isn't serious."_ I thought as I slowly fell asleep.

So after the long ass game and changing back to our normal clothes. We finally saw a planet. Karakura Town.

"Bleach!" Vicki said excitedly.

"Well, we going then?" I asked.

"Let's go." Sora said holding Kairi's hand and pointing to the world, I chuckled as Kairi blushed.

As we walked off the gummi we were greeted by the welcoming party.

"Who are you? State your reason for being here." Hitsugaya was already on the defense, along with Rangiku, Renji, Ikakku, Yumichika, and Ichigo. Let's bug 'em.

"Hey dude! Well explain everything just give us some room." I said walking up to the group they all had their hands on their weapons. I blinked. "Dude, that's rude to greet guests like that. We just want to lock this world to keep it from falling into darkness." They looked at me funny. "He he, looks like it's my turn to explain."

After the quick awkward explanation they decided to take us to Urahara's shop to see if he knew anything.

"Ah heartless you say?" He said as we all crowded around the table. "I recall something about that many years ago."

"So the world hasn't been affected by heartless as much as others?" Sora asked.

"Unfortunately we've had reports that say otherwise. Lately there have been multiple attacks from them. And you say you've got three keybearers that are going to help us?" Sora, Riku and Kairi nodded. "Well then I guess we should be honored being in the presence of heroes of the universe." I giggled at Sora's proud look. "What about you three? Why are you in this too?"

"Celeste can create hearts for beings that have been lost by the heartless. And she and Vicki are trying to figure out exactly where they come from."

"Where they come from?" Renji asked.

"We're not exactly human. I'm a Death Angel and Vicki's a Bestial Elf." A few people in the room looked at us shocked.

"I've heard about you as well." Urahara continued. "Your kind practically created Vicki, am I right? You pretty much made artificial life." We both nodded. "I can sense your power from both of you. You're not like they say in the books are you?"

"Celeste isn't like most, while she's an immortal and can heal like most her kind, she can also kill instantly and devour souls." The room got a darker aura to it.

"Like a hollow?" Ichigo asked.

"Not quite." I answered quietly. "I use souls as another source of nutrients and I need it like energy to use my powers otherwise my wounds don't heal and I end up with scars like this one." I said showing the bad gash that was still red from Sephiroth.

"And the elf?" Urahara asked.

"Wind manipulator, also uses fire and acidic spit. She also has a sonic screech." My mind wandered elsewhere and I caught sight of the red soul glove right behind me and I put it on. No one noticed.

"Actually, the fire's all Water Song and Phoenix. I just channel it."

"And you. What's special about you?" P.J. looked at him and answered. "I'm a shape shifter and a weapons expert."

"He also used to be Celeste's pet dog." Sora added. I hit him with my gloved hand. Suddenly he fell forward and jumping back from him came...ROXAS!


	31. Chapter 31

The entire room was silent. Sora pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his head, causing more stares. Eyes shifted to PJ, Celeste and I for an explanation.  
"Well. Isn't this awkward," I stated, just trying to break the silence. Apparently, that wasn't good enough. Roxas looked down at Sora, then back at himself.  
"How…?" he mumbled. Sora looked up at him and cried out in shock. That only gave me an idea.  
"If Sora's Nobody popped when Celeste hit him with the glove on, does that mean Kairi's would as well?" I mumbled. Only Celeste seemed to hear that. She just gave me a shrug. I chuckled nervously, not having meant to think out loud. The tension just felt like it would never go away. That was until…  
"Roxas! You're back!" a familiar redheaded Nobody yelled from the door. Roxas tensed up right away and was soon caught in an embrace from none other than Axel. Go figure.  
"Well, that kills two birds with one stone," I whispered inaudibly. I was fortunately ignored for the strange sight beside me. I couldn't help but chuckle. Axel stared at us, then at Sora. He was trying to figure out how Roxas popped out of Sora.

"Urahara. Explain. _Now,_" Celeste growled. PJ and I inched away from her a little.  
"Well, I don't really know how to explain this…" Urahara started.  
"It can't be as hard as explaining how a snake slingshots itself into the sky," I replied. I got a few stares for that. Celeste snickered to herself, being the only one who slightly understood what I was talking about. That fact made me grin.  
"Anyways… It could be because Sora was harboring both his soul and Roxas's Soul," Urahara attempted to explain.  
"That makes a little sense. Is there anything of importance to this world?" PJ asked, rubbing his chin. Most of the soul reapers stared at us in confusion.  
"How did I see that coming…" I muttered to myself.  
"There might be something in the Soul Society like that…" Ichigo suggested.  
"Alright, let's go," Axel chuckled, beaming with happiness.  
"So… you're not going to try to con us right away or something…?" Celeste and I asked carefully. This was a first, but something told us not to get used to it.  
"Nope. I'm just going to tag with you guys, if that's okay," he responded carefully. I shrugged.  
"Better than having you try to kill us or something," Celeste sighed. Everyone else was a little wary of Axel and Roxas. Urahara just shrugged and led us all downstairs.

I think the only ones out of our group not amazed by the lower half were Celeste and myself. Urahara summoned a senkaimon with a snap of his fingers.  
"Alright, if I'm correct, you already know how this works, right?" Urahara asked. Celeste and I nodded. The rest of our group just stared. I pulled out the eighth Bleach manga out of my pack and threw it at Axel.  
"You had that in your bag?" Celeste asked me.  
"Yeah. It was the last manga I bought before all this happened. Read the last chapter. Quickly," I ordered. Something smelt wrong. Even Celeste was getting a touch more serious.  
"_We've only got four minutes!_" chorused from behind us.  
"That's right. Now we should move," Celeste answered. She was shaking from anticipation.  
'Celeste. There is something wrong. We should be careful,' I thought to her. She gave me a quick nod. Urahara opened the portal and in a flash we were in the Dangai. We all ran as fast as we could, with little trouble. We burst through the other side and mostly landed face first into the Rukon District.

I pulled myself out of the dirt and shook. It appeared that as a soul, I still looked the same. Celeste also looked about the same. PJ's soul form was the only one that was noticeably different.  
"I missed your wolf form, Mutt," I snickered. Celeste couldn't help but grin. PJ just glared at me.  
"We have to go find Yamamoto," Celeste sighed. I nodded as we headed off to see him.

A long trip and a few long explanations later, Yamamoto asked that we stay within Seireitei. We had been assigned our own rooms, much to our fortune. I knocked on Celeste's door with a sigh.  
"Celeste, it's me. I need to tell you something," I called. The door slid open soon afterwards. I walked in calmly. Celeste sat on the floor.  
"I'm sorry for not telling you that I suspected the 'Female Dante' to be Erin." I bowed as I apologized. I could feel her glare.  
"Why should I accept your apology?" she demanded. She was obviously still sore about it, and from her tone, I could tell she regretted yelling at me.  
"Maybe you shouldn't. I shouldn't have yelled at you either." I sat on the floor. I honestly felt like crying my heart out, or punching a wall. "I was kind of selfish in that manner. But I do have a reason for my decision." I paused to see if she would argue. I was fortunate to find that she wasn't going to cut me off just yet. "I wanted to research into it first, so I would have a better idea. After all, it's currently an assumption. I can't really tell you if it was her or not, just that it might be her. I really… hope it is though… I just really didn't want to raise false hopes…" My voice accidentally cracked on the last sentence.  
"You still should have told me. I could have helped you find out," Celeste patted my shoulder. She was a lot less angry with me than I thought she was going to be.  
"When we get back, okay…?" I forced a smile on my face as I looked at her. I was guilt ridden.

Just as Celeste was about to say something, an explosion rocked the entire shiro. I looked around in a panic.  
"Way to wreck the mood…" Celeste grumbled before rushing out of her room. I followed as fast as I could. As soon as we were outside the shiro, we found that it was surrounded by a huge army of heartless. I squinted and found two people at the head of the army.  
"Aizen's working with… _Demyx?_"


	32. Chapter 32

I looked in shock at the sight in front of me. Is Demyx teaming with Aizen to get a heart? Though I can't see him not seeing as they have no hearts and he's no different from the rest. I thought for a minute.

"I can't die so…" I trailed off as I ran towards Demyx and Aizen faster than I thought I could, the beauty of being a soul.

"Celeste! What are you doing?" Vicki yelled as Sora, P.J., Kairi, Riku, Axel and Roxas came out to see the commotion. Aizen looked shocked as he barely saw me coming and before anyone knew it Demyx and been thrown to the ground.

"Demyx!" I squealed as I hugged him.

"Why didn't I see this coming?" P.J. sweat-dropped looking at the scene, everyone but him and Vicki looked confused.

I lifted my head up and grinned at Demyx. "I hoped I'd see you!"

"We should have prepared better for this." Vicki sighed.

"So you're the one that would give me a heart?" Demyx asked as I remembered that and slightly nodded sitting up and looking at Aizen's shocked face. Suddenly getting hugged by Demyx.

"This is so cool! I'll finally have a heart!" Demyx yelled in my ear.

"He he that you will..." I was watching Aizen to see what he would do. He seemed to be examining me too.

"So you're the one that can take souls." Aizen suddenly spoke up with a creepy I've-got-something-planned look, and his annoyance with the situation of Demyx and I not being all too serious was evident as well. "You could be useful." I shrunk back slightly. He suddenly lifted his hand and a rip appeared behind him, hundreds of hollows pouring out. "If you don't want anyone hurt, you'd better eat shouldn't you?" I bit back a fat joke. Instead of going after the hollows, I ran at Aizen and tried to attack him. He suddenly disappeared and I whipped my head around and sliced at my cheek, nothing happened.

"Wrong way little angel." I heard his voice and looked up. I growled and let my wings out and took to the air. As I went to slash up my arm, he disappeared and I felt him behind me, before I could move he grabbed both my shoulders and head with his elbows and hands. "We've been examining you for a while and I myself came up with a hypothesis. You can only use you powers if two factors are met." His mouth was right by my ear and I tried to squirm away, but he had a strong hold on me. "One, you need souls to power your abilities." I growled loudly at him and I could hear him grin. "Second, which is my hypothesis, you need to be able to see your opponent to use your powers." I froze at this. Was that last part true?

"Well, there's only one way to figure out a hypothesis isn't there? Experiment and see the results. Let's find out." I was having a heart attack inside as I saw that everyone was having trouble with the hollows.

_'Forgive me Vicki, but I don't want anything to happen to you.' _I thought as I started eating souls.

I stopped before I reached my limit and held my right arm as if my scythe was in my hand, blade pointed towards Aizen. But, when I summoned the scythe, Aizen had suddenly disappeared; he was in my face in an instant and I almost fell out of the sky. I quickly raised my scythe and slashed down without hesitation, landing a small tear in his sleeve. I growled and lunged again pretending to attack with my scythe; instead, I drew a deep line in my left palm and when he winced a bit I drew one across my right arm. I started to see blood appear on his right hand so I knew I was getting somewhere. Then he disappeared and reappeared behind me and stabbed my shoulder with his zanpakutō. I winced and tried to look at him but he held my head.

"Now if you want everything to turn out okay you should really eat those hollows' souls right? Who knows what will happen if you don't save your friends, or if you're unable to heal yourself to aid them." I looked at the ground. Axel and Roxas were fighting finally; Sora, Kairi, Riku, P.J., and Vicki were in different parts helping to protect the souls that were under attack at the moment. But Demyx was just kinda doing nothing. Just sitting a little away from everyone, probably waiting for a heart.

"You piece of shit, you think that my allies are that weak? You insult the very air I breathe." I gradually got louder yelling the last sentence and pulling out my Desert Eagle. I fired a few rounds and felt his grip on my head loosen as I turned around and saw the obvious surprise in his eyes I got ready to take his soul.

"You might not want to kill me you know." Great the 'famous last words' "You don't want to upset the natural world order now do you?" Wow. Fail.

"We've already disrupted it when we killed Medusa and nothing happened, what could possibly befall us by whipping your ugly mug off the face of the earth?" He chuckled in response. Ass-pirate.

"Medusa isn't dead though, she still lives." My eyes widened in surprise. "You didn't think she'd go down that easy? She's a clever woman, little angel." I regained my posture and charged. "You're too predictable." Was all he said as he burst forward and stabbed me through my heart. I coughed up blood. "Now what's it going to be? Your life or the hollows?" I slowly lifted my head to his level and grinned, which seemed to disturb him.

"I'm just gunna take the sword." I painfully grabbed the blade and withdrew my wings and let myself drop. I quickly let go when I knew he tightened his grip. He may have some tricks up his sleeve but so did I. As I fell I nicked my cheek deep and saw the gash appear on his face. "I guess I should heal." I mumbled as I threw my wings back out and landed on a flying hollow. "Hello dinner." I quickly absorbed some souls as I healed. I fully wanted to make a Heart for our three new members, but Aizen being around wouldn't make it an easy task. I looked up and saw he wasn't there. "Dammit."

"Last chance little angel." I looked over to see Vicki being held up by Aizen with a tired look in her eyes, but angered at the same time.

"You bastard." I growled walking forward. He smirked as hollows all ganged up and went after me. I sighed sadly and absorbed the souls. My eyes widened as I felt the other heartbeat but I refused to pass out. I collapsed to my knees as the heartbeat started to match my own.

"Celeste!" I looked to see everyone besides Vicki running towards me.

"Finally." I looked as Aizen tossed Vicki to the side like a rag doll and she smashed into the building.

"Vicki!" With strength I didn't know I had I ran towards Vicki absorbing as many souls as I could to heal her. As I made it to her I collapsed beside her and looked at her as I healed her. "I'm sorry. I should've kept better tabs on the asshat." Vicki chuckled and I could see some of her energy returning.

"Well isn't this sweet." I was suddenly picked up by the throat and held above the ground. "If you want her alive you'd better do as I say." He smirked as everyone stopped and looked at him. "Kill the Nobodies." I gritted my teeth. He regarded me uninterestedly.

"Still got some fight left in you." He noted dully. "I'll fix that." He grabbed his sword and was about to stab my shoulder again when it got blasted away with wind. Vicki came out of the rubble looking a lot less tired.

"You threaten Celeste. Drain the life out of her. Use me to get to her. And use her in a weakened state to get us to kill the Organization members? I'm going to make you regret the day you were born." Aizen smirked as he roughly dropped me to the ground. "I'd like to see you try."

_'Vicki attack when I give the signal.'_

_'What's the signal?'_

This. I said the last part so Aizen would turn around. I was right. As he looked I slashed a line across my eye. He yelped in response and as he went to attack me Vicki threw a wind spiral at him.

"Your fight's with me." She said as she took to the sky.

"I'll take care you later." Aizen growled as he glared at me with his good eye, as he followed Vicki.

I looked around to see no one was around. "They must be a little ways away with the hollows." I mumbled resting against some rubble too weak to move. "Damn, I guess this is gunna get worse every time I do this." I heard footsteps to my left and saw Demyx walking up.

"Want your heart I guess huh?" I smiled weakly looking back up to try and spot Vicki, they were really high up.

"Are you okay?" I looked over to Demyx and saw that Sora had appeared as well.

"I'll be fine, I'm a big girl." I leaned my head against the rubble. "Here." I slowly raised my hand towards Demyx. He leaned down and I put my hand on his chest. "Let's see if this works instead of having a hollow jack it or something." I mumbled as I concentrated on the second heart. I felt it leave my body and I looked to see a look of pure happiness on his face.

"Oh my god! Thank you!" Demyx yelled as he hugged me tightly.

"Can't...b-breath!" I gasped in my already weakened state.

"Oh! Sorry!" Demyx let go of me. "Here I'll take you somewhere safe." Demyx picked me up bridal style and nodded to Sora who led us to the rest of the group.

"Celeste!" Kairi slayed a hollow and came running towards us. Followed by Riku and P.J. The later glared at Demyx who stared confused back.

"Thank you I'll take Celeste." He seemed to growl. Demyx was about to hand me over when I replied.

"I'm perfectly fine right here." I said, hell if I'm going with him when he's in this kinda mood, even if he's my brother. Demyx seemed to relax a bit as P.J. scoffed and walked away.

"He doesn't seem to like me much." Demyx said half-heartedly.

"Yeah. I don't know what's up his ass. I'll ask him later." I trailed off as I looked at the sky to see two little black dots moving all around the sky.

_'Stay safe Vicki'_ I thought as I drifted off to a much needed sleep in Demyx's arms. Hopefully, I don't wake up in the middle of this completely weak.


	33. Chapter 33

When I was thrown into the building, my entire life flashed before my eyes. I was way too tired to move, much less scream in pain. My only focus was Celeste.  
_'Kit! Get up!'_ a voice called out to me worriedly.  
'Okay, what the hell…?' I thought to myself in confusion.  
_'The angel can heal you but you need to move, quickly,'_ the voice explained. It seemed familiar. I instantly thought back to my dream where I discovered that the materia was Phoenix. Celeste soon collapsed next to me, healing my wounds and giving me new energy.  
"I'm sorry. I should've kept better tabs on the asshat," she apologized, causing me to chuckle. I could just barely sense the energy returning to me.

"Well isn't this sweet." Celeste was suddenly picked up by the throat and held up in the air. I struggled to stand up.  
"If you want her alive you'd better do as I say." Aizen smirked as he said this. I could feel my aura returning.  
_'That's it kit. Stand. Fight,'_ the voice told me.  
'Who the hell are you?' I asked it.  
_'A voice from the past,'_ it responded.  
'Great….' The voice laughed at my response.  
"Kill the Nobodies." Celeste was gritting her teeth. Aizen seemed barely interested with Celeste anymore. Celeste struggled violently.  
"Still got some fight left in you," he noted dully, "I'll fix that." As soon as he grabbed his Zanpakutō, I was finally able to react. Just a second before he could stab Celeste's shoulder again, I blasted it away with wind. I pushed the rubble off of me, now royally pissed off.  
"You threaten Celeste. Drain the life out of her. Use me to get to her. And use her in a weakened state to get us to kill the Organization members? I'm going to make you regret the day you were born," I hissed darkly. Something seemed off about this time. I normally couldn't get enough venom on my tongue, so to speak. Aizen smirked as he roughly dropped Celeste to the ground like a broken toy.  
"I'd like to see you try," he chuckled sadistically.  
_'Vicki attack when I give the signal,'_ Celeste thought to me.  
_'What's the signal?'_ I thought back.  
This, she said out loud. As Aizen turned around to deal with her, she slashed a line across her right eye. He yelped in response. As he went to attack her, I threw a whirlwind at him.  
"Your fight's with me," I said, taking to the sky.  
"I'll take care of you later," Aizen growled as he glared at Celeste with his good eye, soon following me.  
'You better live through this, Celeste,' I thought to her.

Since I had the advantage of altitude, I spit downwards at him. Aizen dodged, his Zanpakutō returning to his hand. I dove down, grazing my wings against him.  
'I'm going to have to get my outfit fixed again when I get back…' I thought to myself. Aizen slashed my side. The cut wasn't terribly deep, but a spin in the air threw a lot of blood around. I screeched in response. Aizen screamed as he covered his ears. I whipped out Water Song just in time to slash his arm. Aizen seemed surprised at my current speed. Water Song went full blaze as I turned around and slashed the air. Unlike Celeste, I was a ranged fighter. Distance was crucial. I pulled out my shotgun and fired a shell at Aizen. Aizen screamed in shock and disappeared.  
"That won't work on me, Idiot," I growled, blasting wind in behind me. He reappeared next to me, only to get sliced with said wind. I spun and sliced him, before sending him downwards. I was beginning to slow down now. We had to get out of here, and fast. I switched to my hunting rifle quickly and fired an electrified round into his shoulder. Putting my weapons away, I flew right by him six times, hitting him hard with my wings and claws. I let him fall on his own and dove at my allies.

"Time to get the hell out of here!" I yelled as I flew over them. After a shared look of confusion, the group ran off. I noted that Celeste was asleep now and chuckled as I flew for the gate. We surprisingly made it within perfect timing. The senkaimon had just opened up.  
"Coming through!" I yelled as we ran through the gate to the other side. Of course we popped out into the sky and fell for a bit. I quickly created a cushion of air to allow us to descend to the ground with getting hurt.

Everyone was panting for a while. Urahara appeared out of nowhere as Ichigo landed on top of me. I pushed the soul reaper off of my back.  
"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at him.  
"Well, it's not like I purposely landed on you or anything!" he yelled back, "And you left in the middle of the fight!"  
"I was getting too weak again! Besides, if I kill Aizen, I'll disrupt the world's order! That and shouldn't you go back there and fight him?" I growled. Celeste's eyes fluttered open just as Ichigo hit my head.  
"Shut up! I came here to get you!" Ichigo received a boot to his gut, sending him back.  
"Don't tell me to shut up!" I stomped my raised foot into the ground. Seemed no one wanted to stop us from fighting with each other.  
"Kids…" PJ sighed, now back in human form.  
"Shut up, old man!" Ichigo and I yelled at the same time. Urahara clapped his hands together to get our attention. We all turned and stared at his now glowing hat. It revealed the keyhole as Sora locked the world.  
"Well, it's time to go," Celeste chuckled. Ichigo and I glared at each other before mumbling our good byes. Just then, Aizen came through to Karakura town. The gummi ship came right on time.  
"We'll be back. Got it memorized?" Axel chuckled as he hopped into the gummi ship with Roxas. Demyx practically ran in with Celeste. The rest of us jumped in without Ichigo, Urahara or Aizen.  
"See you some other time!" I yelled as PJ drove the gummi ship away in a hurry. I caught a hint of leather and demon blood on the wind as I shut the door.

I slept most of the way back to Radiant Gardens. Once we got there, I had changed into a certain outfit I hoped never to put back on ever. Stupid miniskirt… While Aerith worked with my now very ripped up clothes, I wandered around the castle. Zoey was the first to find me.  
"Hi you," was my face-now-in-the-floor greeting. Zoey laughed as she sat on my lower back. Thank God I retracted my tail and wings. Sadly, this was beginning to remind me of Celeste's sister. She always glomped me, that is until I started trying to dodge her attempts. That didn't work out to well, for either of us.  
"How was the next world?" she laughed.  
"Annoying. Hectic. Perfect for soul reapers," I responded, struggling to sit up enough so that my face wasn't in the floor anymore.  
"Bleach?"  
"Bleach." Zoey laughed.  
"Anyways, Jill and Chris wanted to show you and Celeste something."  
"Would help if Celeste was with us, huh?"  
"Oh right…" I giggled at Zoey's response. Zoey let me stand up as the dragged me along to find Celeste. In the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of black leather.  
'Great… I've got a stalker…' I thought.

We found Celeste raiding the fridge. Go figure. After a quick explanation to Celeste, we were being dragged off to see Jill and Chris.  
"Well, I see she found you two," Jill chuckled. I grumbled at her, causing her to grin at my displeasure of being dragged around.  
"Come on. We found it in the files Vicki swiped from our world," Chris explained, trying to hold back his grin. He just got a glare from both me and Celeste. We proceeded to the nearest computer, after Zoey finally let go of our wrists.

The hallways seemed to get darker as we moved along. Something moved in the shadows behind me and Celeste. I shuddered at the creepy feeling it gave me before an arm slid over mine and Celeste's respective shoulders.  
"Hey Babes," an extremely familiar voice chimed in my ear. As a form of habit and self-defense, I elbowed the stranger behind us. There was a small grunt of pain then a slight chuckle from the person behind us.  
"Dante! Get your hands off me!" I ordered. The laughter got a bit louder. That's when I notice it was a female voice. My face flushed white as I spun around to see who it was.  
"_OhmyGod_! I'm so sorry Erin!" I cried, hugging the tall woman. As expected, she still had her red hair, her height, and well… tendency to scare the crap out of me.  
"Heh heh, it's alright Jill. I've been to Hell and back again," Erin chuckled. Jill and Chris both gave her a funny look. Zoey just burst out into a fit of laughter, being one of three people in the group to get what she meant, the others being Celeste and myself. I stopped for a minute, and then thought about the situation.

"Wait a second… Holy crap! You're alive!" I shouted, hugging her tighter, "Wait, when were you in Hell?" I looked up at her inquisitively.  
"Yep and I'm still alive and kicking, if you can believe that," she chuckled dryly.  
"I asked when, not if," I replied flatly, before the joy of seeing my 'big sister' was alive took me over again. She chuckled lightly as she glanced around. As soon as she saw Chris and Jill, she smiled crookedly. She pushed me away to get a little room for her introduction.  
"Allo allo. Nice to meet you all. I'm the great demon knight Rin, though my full name is Erin." She put her hands on her hips and posed.

There was a moment of silence, before the trio of Celeste, Zoey and I burst out laughing at Erin's display of 'heroism' and how her modesty went _so_ far. A shared look of confusion splayed across the S.T.A.R.S. members' faces, before Chris eventually sighed. Jill's brow rose as her lips twisted into an unsure smile. I chuckled again as Erin looked at them.  
"Don't ask." Her tone was flat and serious at the same time. Was Hell freezing over? Must be. She's actually being serious. That never happens. Of course, an old joke popped into my head, causing me to grin. I brought Erin over with me to meet Chris… well she didn't have much of a choice, since I had a vice grip on her wrist. Not that she was complaining, either.  
"Erin this is Chris." I tried to keep from laughing as I finished the introductions. "Chris this is Chris."

The look on Chris and Jill's faces was priceless as Erin looked like she was trying not to bust a gut from laughing so hard. Celeste and Zoey were grinning as well. I knew I was going to have to explain this one later to Jill, at the very least.  
"Hey… has anyone happened to find Ada?" Erin looked around. Chris shook his head in response.  
"Huh, she must have gotten lost. Oh well. She was never able to read a map very well," Erin sighed comically. The tension in the air had been lifted, by the most spontaneous appearance of Erin I had ever had the pleasure of experiencing in my life. Moments seem to pass in an awkward silence before Erin opened her mouth again.

"Hey... I see Zoey, but where's Francis?" she asked curiously, "I have to give him his Christmas present." I started to snicker as Zoey looked at Erin confused. Only I would get the Christmas joke.  
"Wait, you know me?" Zoey asked as Erin nodded.  
"Same with Bill, Francis and Louis," Erin responded with a grin.  
"How do you know us?" Zoey questioned.  
"How else?" she shrugged and pointed at me, "Vicki." I giggled lightly. Zoey gave a quick nod before Celeste turned her attention to our old friend.  
"So how did you get here without a Gummy Ship?" She asked curiously.  
"Funny Story," Erin whistled innocently, "I stuck to the outside of your Gummy Ship."

"But how could you _breathe_?" I exclaimed, earning a stare from some of the people around.  
"I'm..." She posed again, "The great Demon Knight Rin! I held a mighty breath for the time it took to get from Dante's world to here." Erin said proudly. Silence seemed to envelope the area as everyone just seemed to stare at her, myself included.  
"You're not a demon though Erin." I responded flatly, "I'm closer to a demon than you." I motioned to my wings and tail as they extended out of my back just to prove the point.

Erin raised a brow and stared at me. "I have the blood." She stated flatly.  
"Huh? The blood. What are you talking ago-" Before I could finish my sentence, she cut her arm without a flinch. Black blood started to bleed from the gash. I retracted my wings and tail as I stared in curiosity.  
"Alrighty then. That could be one of two things." I ran my finger through the blood, before sniffing. I threw my hand out away from my face, flicking the blood off my finger.  
"Oh God! Yep, that's demon blood," I groaned, "Never mind then."

Erin didn't even have to say I told you so. She knew she'd end up getting smacked if she did. She was being smart about that. No one else seemed to get the clue though. It took a short second, before Erin's eyes traveled up and down my body. The current clothes I was wearing made her raise a brow.  
"And... you're wearing a miniskirt why?" she asked with a slight grin, just to creep me out.  
"Don't blame me. It was all Reno and Jill's idea to give me this," I grumbled with a shiver. Erin started to grin which also got me nervous.  
"Well now, shall I have a little… target practice?" she chuckled.  
"Uh oh..." I paused then looked over at Jill. She looked like she was ready to get the hell out of Dodge. "Okay, _do not_ hurt Jill. Reno on the other hand, go knock yourself out."

Erin paused as she pulled her cell phone out. There was a chibi Sparda, a chibi Sephiroth dressed as a cute little cat and a chibi Cloud cosplaying as a Chocobo. This made me giggle.  
"How suitable," I commented as she motioned she was talking on the phone. I waved it off to show her I understood.  
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. Lady will be fine," she said before hanging up, "Sorry, Dante was just griping at me as usual."  
"Wait…" I paused, "What?" I laughed slightly.

Erin laughed at my confusion before hugging me then moving onto Celeste.  
"Man, I've missed you guys." Her smile was genuine. She missed everyone especially someone very special to her, but she never showed it. Celeste ouffed as Erin hugged her. In all honesty, she was a sight for sore eyes. Though I knew inwardly, she was hurting. It saddened me to see her trying to cover up the sadness. She was indeed a brave soul, but Erin was more spontaneous than she was serious. Extremely scary when she was mad, and well the best of it was she always protected her friends. Me especially, in some cases. We never talk about those "incidents".

"Anyways, I won't be sticking around all that much." Erin stretched and revealed she wore no shirt under her jacket. Just a gun strap that hid her chest. It took me until now to realize that she was wearing a darker coloured version of Dante's Devil May Cry 3 outfit.  
"How very typical of you... And you bug me about wearing a miniskirt and tube top," I sighed, placing my hand to my forehead as I shook my head. That earned stares from everyone else. Erin just snickered.  
"It's called 'oh so lovable freedom'." There was silence again before I howled with laughter. I almost passed out when she pulled a strawberry sundae out of nowhere.  
"Why are you not sticking around?" she asked. I quickly recovered into a more serious tone thanks to that.  
"I'm not one for staying in one place that long," The demon-slayer paused for a moment, "But I think I can be of service to you guys."  
"How?" I demanded, placing both of my hand on my hips. Jill chuckled at my stance. Obviously, she had used it on Chris many times. Great… I'm turning into her now… Mind you, that would explain my lock picking skills…  
"You need a spy?" Erin replied. There was almost a cocky sense to it. I paused and thought about it for a minute.

"_Please_, for the love of God, don't be like Ada Wong!" I roared with laughter. Erin stared at me with her 'no shit' facial expression.  
"I won't just give my name away like her. I actually have several aliases do not forget," she said matter-of-factly.  
"How could I..." I murmured. There was a slight pause.  
"You never shut up about the many characters you play." I whispered inaudibly.  
"What was that?" Erin demanded. I jumped a bit.  
"Nothing!" I near-shrieked. Yeah, good one Vics… that really makes you look innocent.  
"Mhmm..." Erin raised a brow, suspecting me already.  
"Seriously, it's nothing," I laughed nervously, "Okay?" Zoey was respectfully trying her hardest not to laugh at me. Everyone else however, was chuckling.  
"Alright, I'll believe you… this time."  
"Ouch, thanks."  
"You're welcome."  
"Oh goody..." I sighed. Well we're back to the "Vicki runs headlong into jokes" thing again. Great...

"Anyways, as I was saying. If you guys need a spy or something. Let me know." Erin held out a business card. It had Nero with Red Queen on the front and her number for her cell on the back.  
"Coo," I said coolly. I placed it in my bra, due to lack of a better place to put it.  
"Anyways, see ya later Babes," Erin smiled and disappeared into the shadows, and of course she winked at me to creep me out. Oh, how I missed this. Not.  
"_Don't call me babe!_" I shouted as an afterthought.  
"Babe..." was whispered back to me, causing a violent shiver to go down my spine. The creepy laughter that came afterwards did not help at all.  
"Well F you too!" I screamed and left in a huff.  
"What's Vicki's problem?" Jill asked innocently.  
"Let's just say that it's just the way they work together," Celeste replied with a grin.  
"Kind of like you and Chris," Zoey chuckled. That earned a glare from me, stares from Jill and Chris, and a laughing fit from Celeste. Zoey just proceeded to grin stupidly.  
"Look at it this way, at least we know who the female Dante is now," she reasoned before walking off. I sighed at the fact that she was right and followed her.

We eventually made it over to the computer. Jill plugged in a jump drive as she turned it on.  
"We're not quite sure what it is yet, but it might have something to do with you two," Chris explained. I leaned over Jill's shoulder to see the screen. Jill pulled up a hidden folder with only two files in it. The first one was a jpeg of Celeste and I in our old lives. Celeste peered at it with a creeped out look. I noted it was one that a friend of ours took.  
"Your hair was really fuzzy," Jill observed with a snicker.  
"It was fluzzy. Fluffy and fuzzy," I corrected out of habit. She shrugged and pulled up the other file. I stared at it carefully.  
"Ramose? You heard of that place Vicki?" Celeste asked. I nodded.  
"It's the home world of all Beastial Elves," I replied flatly, "However; it says here that there is a spiritual part of the world called Rahvme. You recognize it?"  
"Death Angel world. So what does that mean?" she asked.  
"They're connected, that's for sure," Jill answered. Zoey was getting a kick out of the conversation.

"These must be estimated coordinates to our home world," I said as I pointed to the screen.  
"Talk about being a creeper," Celeste sighed. I chuckled.  
"This is all done in Wesker's style. He probably wrote all of this," Chris mentioned.  
"The question is, why hasn't he confronted us yet? Is he just waiting for something…?" I sighed.  
"He probably is. He waited a few years before trying to get back at me and Jill," he responded.  
"Then a while after that to unleash Uroboros, while using me as his puppet," Jill added with a shiver. Bad memories came from the very mention of Uroboros. I shivered as well.  
"Hey look at this! This could explain Erin's survival!" Celeste exclaimed.  
"Some of the other humans on this planet have shown signs of coming from other worlds. Some have adjusted DNA samples, odd traits, or increased abilities. It is possible that some of them could share the same home world as 'Toxic' and 'Lightless', possibly even truly related to them," Zoey read aloud.  
"What? Does he have a grudge against us or something?" I questioned. Jill had a nice little giggle about that. Celeste shrugged. I could sense Chris rolling his eyes, and I instinctly chucked something at him, incidentally clocking him in the head. He stumbled noisily for a couple of seconds as my attention returned to the screen.  
"I do have to give him props on the detail of this file, even if it is creepy," I said. Jill and Zoey nodded as Chris smacked the back of my head. I knocked him over with wind without even looking.  
"It even goes through our lives on our world," Celeste added.  
"Well, as interested as I am in this, I need two things; a long sleep and a cup of coffee when I get up," I yawned. Zoey paled.  
"We… don't have any coffee left. It won't be coming for another day or so…" Zoey informed us carefully. Jill and I glared at her.

"_What do you mean there's no coffee?"_


	34. Chapter 34

"What do you mean there is no coffee?" I froze, fear settling in. Vicki could be really scary when she didn't get her coffee. I slipped out of the room and started to walk down the hallway.

I started to sing to myself as I walked down a random hallway. As I rounded the corner towards the kitchen I stopped when I heard voices.

"Man I can't believe you got a heart." I recognized Axel's voice.

"I'm just smarter than you Axel." Larxene. I chuckled silently to myself.

"Demyx get the hell away from that bowl!" I heard a slam noise and a yelp from Demyx.

"I just wanted some grapes!" I decided to walk in then.

Xaldin was cooking and Demyx was walking back to the table that was also being occupied by Roxas, Axel, and Larxene. As I walked in everyone perked up.

"Oh hey Celeste." I smiled as I walked and sat by Larxene.

"You seem better then when I last saw you." Xaldin noted. I nodded.

"I found out some people from my past might have survived! And Erin was just here." I sighed and leaned back. "I wonder who else made it?" I tilted my chair back and rested it against the back wall.

"Well if one made it I wouldn't be surprised if others are around." Roxas spoke.

"Oh yeah! I forgot to thank you for carrying my fat ass outta Karakura town." I smiled as I spoke when I saw him blush.

"Yeah, no problem." He mumbled.

"Jeez man! If you're getting thanked by a lady don't get all shy!" Axel exclaimed as he patted Demyx on the back. I chuckled in response.

"Food's up." Xaldin announced as he came in with a bunch of cookies. I laughed at a memory of Claudia when she'd bake.

"Find something funny?" Xaldin asked.

"No just a memory." I mumbled eating a cookie. "Claudia." I mumbled.

"Who's Claudia?" Leave it to the loudmouth called Axel to hear me.

"My sister." I stated grabbing another cookie.

"You had a sister? Did you have any other siblings? What were they like?" Demyx looked so cute with his eyes all lit up and curious.

"I had two younger sisters. Claudia was like our replacement mom when ours was out. Heaven was like a small spoiled child but had a heart of gold when she wanted to. They were always so bubbly and happy." I felt far away as I remembered I took everything for granted.

"It must be hard. Not actually being family to them." I snapped out of it.

"Did someone here tell you?" I asked Larxene nodded.

"Squall explained it to us when we all came in." She said. I sighed sadly.

"Nothing kept to myself anymore." I said half-heartedly. Demyx suddenly jumped up and hugged me.

"It's okay! I'll keep your secrets safe." I squeaked and looked as Larxene shook her head and mumbled something like 'to innocent' or something. I sighed.

"I'm gunna head out and see if Vicki's calmed down. If anyone finds coffee it might save our hides." Everyone gave me a confused look as I walked out. I started walking down the hall when I heard someone.

"Wait for me!" Demyx shouted running up beside me. "Axel's gunna just keep bugging me if I stay." I nodded in understanding.

"Let's travel around for a little bit. Before seeing if Vicki's okay just to be safe." Demyx chuckled in response.

"Is she really that bad?"

"Yes." I didn't even hesitate to answer. Demyx chuckled nervously.

"Hey Zesty!" I froze and Demyx looked at me confused as we both got jumped to the ground.

"Where've you been?" Yuffie yelled in my ear.

"You've been so distant lately." Rikku pouted.

"You'd be too after all the crap I've gone through and losing family." I snapped back at them. They both stiffened and got up.

"You need some cheering up!" Yuffie announced.  
"Let us cheer you up." Rikku shouted as her and Yuffie grabbed me and ran me down the hall.

"Demyx help me!" I shouted as they ran, dragging me down the hall as Demyx ran after me.

'Plan to get rid of Jumpy and Twitchy - FAIL'

I ended up getting dragged across the floor with Demyx tied with ropes when Jumpy and Twitchy decided my thrashing was too much, and since they had extra rope, they tied Demyx up too.

"Why me?" I whined giving Demyx a sorry-for-getting-you-into-this sorta look.

"Hey guys!" I looked over to see Cloud and Zack walking down an intersecting hall.

"You know where Reno's at? We were hoping to cheer our grim friend here." Rikku moved over so Demyx and I were visible. I looked up at them giving them the best kicked puppy look I could manage. They both had a look of pity on them.

"Here. We'll take them from here." Zack said walking over and grabbing the ropes. "Go get Vicki or something."

Thankfully Jumpy and Twitchy agreed and left. Cloud went over to untie Demyx.

"How'd this happen?" Zack asked as he untied me.

"OMG thank you! I owe you BIG time!" I yelled hugging Zack. "They said I was too depressed and dragged me off. I tried to fight them and they tied me up!" He chuckled in response.

"Well seeing as Vicki's not in a good mood according to you, they'll learn their lesson really fast." Demyx laughed as we got up.

"Why were they looking for Reno?" I asked as we all walked down a random hallway.

"Some new person has been shooting at him for a while." I looked at Cloud funny.

"Did you see them?" I asked.

"Umm, red hair, tall, wearing a red cloak." I started laughing.

"Erin's actually helping Vicki with revenge? We should go save him!" I talked in between laughs.

"Stop shooting at me!" We heard Reno's voice and started to run down the hallway. We entered an outside garden and saw Erin shooting at Reno with Rude in the background holding the bridge of his nose.

"Erin cut it out now!" I yelled running up to her.

She looked at me and replied. "Aww...Ruin my fun with the redhead." Reno snapped around.

"How is this fun!" He suddenly got shot in the arm.

"Erin!" I snapped. "Stop attacking allies! Go find an enemy so shoot the crap outta!" The last thing I needed with all this was unnecessary violence.

"Point me in the right direction and I'll do it." I was speechless for a minute then pointed straight up.

"Tons of worlds, tons of pointless vermin right?" I got a dark look to me.

She smirked. "Okay Later." And with that she poofed away.

"Take care of yourself." I mumbled as I turned to Reno who was bleeding from several wounds Erin inflicted. "Of course." I sighed as I healed him up and started walking away. "Man I'm getting hungry."

"We could go back to the kitchen." Demyx suggested.

"Not the food I had in mind Dem-dem." I chuckled as everyone caught on.

"Well, later!" I said as I walked down a hallway and everyone else went their separate ways.

I sighed to myself as I walked aimlessly. 'How could this day get anymore weird?' I looked up to see Sephiroth walking towards me. I growled low and brushed past him roughly.

"Now we wouldn't want to repeat past experiences would we? No one's here to save you this time." Sephiroth said as he kept walking.

"From what I heard if it wasn't for the 'help' you'd be dead." I snapped back. I ducked down as I heard his sword fly past me.

"You should watch your mouth. You probably have a scar from the last encounter and what do I have? Nothing. Face it, you're all talk. It's amazing you've lived this long." I physically bit my tongue to stop from attacking instead I walked away.

"At least I live with purpose." I growled as I started walking. As I heard him flip around again I ran away laughing. I don't know why I was laughing, I just was.

"You're so gullible sis!" I shouted, and then covered my mouth. I guess I really missed my sister. I stopped laughing and continued to run for my mutant life. As I turned a corner I ran into three people that were really going to make the situation worse. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz.

"What are you running from angel?" Yazoo asked looking behind me.

"Your deranged sibling!" I panicked trying to get past the three. I had no such luck as I was grabbed by both Loz and Kadaj. "Let me go!" I squirmed in their grip.

"You are the gullible one. Clinging to the past that shouldn't belong to you." Sephiroth said as he walked forward.

"At least I didn't turn out like you when I found out the truth!" I spat venom dripping from every word.

Just as Sephiroth was about to retaliate all four of them got knocked off their feet with a strong gust of wind.

"Leave." Was all Vicki said as they all reluctantly scurried away. She looked at me and sighed. "You can't stay out of trouble for five minutes can you?" I grinned in response.

"It's in my genes!" I stated proudly. Vicki gave me an odd stare then got serious.

"Right, anyway I gotta talk to you." Vicki said as she became serious. "I heard a voice when Aizen attacked me and threw me into that building."

"Seriously? You know who it was?" I looked at her as she momentarily avoided eye contact before looking back at me and replying.

"I don't know who it was but you know how some characters in the really good RPGs sometimes get a voice from the past to talk to them? Yeah, it's something like that." I burst out laughing at the last part. Then stopped when I remembered my most recent 'visit'.

"Scari appeared again." I stated bluntly. Vicki looked at me.

"When?"

"The time when Sephiroth first attacked me. I kinda forgot about it seeing everything that was going on at the time." I rubbed the back of my neck. "She said something about the wolf that had appeared would be able to help others find me through my dreams, and that others will soon visit because the bond is getting stronger. Does that mean we're nearing Rahvme and Ramose?" I scratched the back of my head thoughtfully.

"Maybe, maybe the wolf could tell us." Vicki joked lightly. I laughed.

"We'll just have to wait and see I guess." I said and started walking off. "It doesn't seem like were going anywhere for a couple days anyway, Cid's upgrading the gummi ships so they can go farther longer." I added walking with Vicki down a hallway.


	35. Chapter 35

A no coffee episode. That was just what I needed. And to find out that Jill needed it just as much as I did… oh boy… I already felt sorry for anyone who pissed us off. Surprisingly, enough caffeine in my system mellowed me out for a while. And with Rikku and Yuffie trying to cheer up Celeste, Erin appearing out of nowhere, and Celeste almost being killed by Sephiroth, needless to say, the next thing that set me off would have the perpetrator sent through many walls. It was a good thing Celeste was around. She could at least keep me in check. Right now, I couldn't wait to get to the next world. Although I still had a strong lack of energy from the last battle, I could just rely on stealth and my guns for now. Apparently, a Death Angel's healing doesn't last that long in the energy department. I sat down in the kitchen with my current replacement for the much needed caffeine, a bottle of Sleemans. Yeah, beer wasn't a great replacement, but the tea was nowhere to be seen either, and I couldn't even get near Cid to ask if he had a cash of tea somewhere. Plus, all the pop here was caffeine-free. I placed the bottle to my head and reflected silently on the past events while Celeste talked with the Nobodies, who were still in the kitchen.

We were taken from our homes, thrown out of our comfort zones, mutated into what most would consider freaks of nature, discover that we don't even come from our Earth, pushed into going on missions, fight everything, get hit on by Dante, and fifty million other things that would make a normal person go insane. I stared at the bottle of beer in my hand.  
"Fuck life," I grumbled in a sudden case of depression. I slumped onto the table, not even opening the beer. Who knew what was going to happen next? Oh wait, that would be Wesker and whoever he was working with. I ignored the probing happening around me, only reacting when someone got close. Of course, my reaction was either a hiss or a growl, depending on which came out first. I felt Chi hide in on of my pockets. Seems she finally found me again. I stood up and walked away, shoving the now slightly warm beer back into the fridge. Celeste followed just behind me.

"Vicki? What's wrong?" she asked out of concern.  
"Everything. We've taken too much crap lately, and with no coffee, it's finally coming down on me like a hail storm of depression," I explained in monotone, "I'm hitting up the range. You coming?"  
"The range…?" Celeste paused, obviously not sure of what I meant.  
"The gun range." I pulled out my Samurai Edge and switched my electrified rounds out for regular rounds. I made a mental note to get Larxene to shock me later so I could get more, and to see if it worked with any other elements.  
"Sure, why not?" Celeste said with a shrug. I shrugged as well and led her to the range.

Unsurprisingly, we found Jill, Zoey and Francis there. Francis was being unusually quiet around Jill, probably after being yelled at by the ex-S.T.A.R.S. member based off of his white face. He must have said something stupid again. Zoey was just watching the other two shoot off their ammunition. I took a place next to Jill. After I switched out the rest of my ammunition, I shot targets in silence. The silence was later broken by Jill, just after Zoey and Francis left.  
"So, I hear you got my old S.T.A.R.S. lock," she grumbled.  
"Yeah. Found it in Shinra Headquarters. Got an explanation?" I responded calmly.  
"Wesker might have planted it. Did you check for tracers?"  
"After I opened the secret compartment, yes. I found nothing."  
"Can I see?"  
"Sure." With the tones in our voices, I sensed that Celeste was wondering how we weren't setting each other off. I couldn't blame her either. We sounded like we were a second from ripping someone's throat out. I dropped the lock into Jill's hand without looking. Jill inspected it, soon giving it back.

"Well, so much for that. We probably could have found out where he was if we had a tracker. You can keep it, by the way," Jill sighed.  
"Thanks, and I think that was the point in not putting it there," I replied.  
"Why would Wesker plant it at Shinra though?" Celeste questioned as we all returned to our guns.  
"Maybe he knew Vicki would find it and take it?" Jill suggested as she got a perfect headshot.  
"It makes some sense, since he's known about us for a while… but what would be his interest with us?" I growled, getting two moving targets with one bullet.  
"What's he always trying to perfect?" Jill sighed. Accidental nut shot. We all winced.  
"Bio-Organic Weaponry… that one only makes sense for me. What about Celeste?"  
"Yeah, what about me?"  
"I don't know. Maybe he has some theory that involves both of you?"  
"Probably. But the question is why us? Why not just take someone from our home world?"  
"Because no one knows where it is," Cloud answered. The three of us jumped. Cloud didn't even flinch as Jill and I glared at him. Cloud leaned against the doorframe.  
"Great… that's just great…" I grumbled.  
"Anyways, I need to talk to Jill," Cloud sighed. I growled as I left with Celeste.

Days later, Cid had finished the upgrades on our gummi ship. Yuffie found Jill and I instant coffee by this time, so we were much calmer now. Although Jill never told me what the talk with Cloud was about. And knowing Jill now, it meant that it's probably something she thinks Celeste and I don't want to hear. She was having a fun time blocking the thought from me too. I carried my normal outfit over my shoulder, along with a newer one I managed to fix up so it fit me, with Aerith's help of course. People seemed surprised I actually had an olive drab outfit in my bag. I was just as surprised to find it there. Seems my old Boss costume was one of the things Yuffie forgot about completely that she took from our world. Of course, I now had a small wardrobe of stuff I wasn't going to wear often thanks to Yuffie apparently raiding my closet. I couldn't wear most of it because they were dresses. Long dresses that impair my ability to run, which is already impaired. I was also now a little more secure with wearing a miniskirt, which I was going to change out of on the ship. As I crawled into the ship, I noticed Kairi wasn't coming with us. I shrugged and went inside the first room I found and shut the door. I got changed into the olive drab, tying the jacket around my waist. I pulled my amulet off my neck and placed it in my pocket, soon replacing it with dog tags. I held them tenderly. They brought both good and bad memories to me. I sighed.

"Is everything okay?" Squall said from the other side of the door. There was a mild hint of concern in his voice. I spun on my heel and stared at the door in confusion.  
"Yeah. Just some things I don't want to remember, that's all," I grumbled as I walked out of the room.  
"Squall is coming with us by the way," PJ told me.  
"He's switching out for Kairi?" I asked without expression. PJ nodded. I walked past him and sat in the driver's seat.  
"Alright kids! It's time to transform and roll out!" I yelled, specifically to Celeste and Sora, who were running up to the ship. Celeste giggled at the reference. I smiled a little as we took off.

"Well, I'm dressed for this world. What are you going to do, guys?" I yelled over my shoulder.  
"What is it?" Celeste yawned at me. She must have fallen asleep again.  
"We're at Metal Gear Solid. You're going to have to pretend you're someone who can use a gun or a very unlucky citizen," I explained. Squall was already in his SEED uniform and PJ looked fairly relaxed.  
"But what would I be?" Celeste asked quietly.  
"FBI. There's a suit in the back. Go put it on. Sora and Riku will have to be civilians," I responded.  
"Civilians? Why don't we get something cool?" Sora asked.  
"Because we need to blend in for once and you two can't use guns for your lives. There should be something in the back that fits you two. Go change. I'm not landing until you three are in new clothes," I ordered.  
"Yes Mother," Riku grumbled sarcastically.  
"That's Ma'am now. Or DeRouen. I'm switching names for now," I answered, turning around and staring him strait in the eyes. He just rolled his eyes.  
"One last thing, no magic. No one's an exception here, not even Celeste. The only exception is when it's one hundred percent necessary, go it?" I growled. Now they knew I was serious. They scampered off to change. I leaned back with a sigh, rubbing my temples.

The next few minutes passed in awkward silence. PJ was cleaning his guns, Squall was staring out the window, and I was now playing with my dog tags, staring at the ceiling.  
"So, where did you get those?" PJ asked to break the silence.  
"My ex-boyfriend gave them to me for our first Valentine's Day as a present," I responded absent-mindedly.  
"Did you break up?" Sora questioned as he walked in. he was wearing an ordinary pair of jeans, a red jacket and ordinary boots. The jacket was done up, but I could see a faint hint of a black shirt under it.  
"Yes… Before I lost what used to be my home…" I felt so distant now. I would have never wished that fate on him. I was brought out of it when I realized what I had said.  
"I'm not talking about this anymore. Are Riku and Celeste changed yet?" I grumbled, turning back to my controls.  
"We're done. Can we go now?" Riku said with a smirk. His outfit was almost like his original, only now it fit closer to his body. I smacked him into his seat.  
"Only if you buckle up, ass," I hissed. Celeste was already seated with Sora. Riku grumbled about my bad mood and buckled up. I drove down into the atmosphere and landed in a remote place in Alaska.

"We're going to have to take a normal vehicle there. And don't worry about the driver's license. I got it covered," I explained. We took a van up to a military run area. Riku and Sora hid themselves as we drove up to the gate.  
"You got papers?" the guard said gruffly. I nodded and pulled blank papers out of my pocket. The man looked inside.  
"Where are the civilians?" he asked.  
"Hiding, obviously. You think I'd let them shoot those two so easily? If I don't get them to the base _alive_, my higher ups will kill me," I scoffed. The man nodded.  
"You are free to pass," he said as he passed me back the papers. I nodded and drove off. Once I knew we were out of earshot, I burst into laughter.

"Has she gone crazy?" PJ asked in concern.  
"Nope! Damn, I love these papers!" I roared. Celeste looked at them.  
"They're blank…" she said quietly.  
"Of course! It's slightly psychic paper! I got them from Zidane. Man, that was a riot. I wish he could have seen that," I laughed.  
"Where did he get it?" Riku asked.  
"A guy known simply as "The Doctor". He's got a ton, so Zidane didn't even have to steal them," I responded, rubbing tears from my eyes.  
"How did you get Zidane to do it?" Sora demanded.  
"Blackmail," I responded with a grin.

We talked about many different things along the way to the base. Celeste decided to call herself Coral-Lynn Armstrong, after I mentioned that the only reason I was in a human form and calling myself Rachel DeRouen was to throw anyone watching us off our trail. PJ went along with it, renaming himself Dean H. Pollok. Squall was simply using Leon, and Sora and Riku couldn't think of anything. I sighed as I pulled up to the other side of the base. I dropped out of the van, soon followed by everyone else. I pulled my jacket back over my shoulders, hiding the slightly psychic papers in my pack.  
"Alright. I need to explain a few things before we go in. first of all, Riku, Sora, you two get to pretend you're prisoners so we can get in. Leon, you're with me. Coral-Lynn, you and Dean sneak in through the barely guarded passage over there. Head up the elevator and meet us at the cells. Try not to get caught. If you find Solid Snake, bring him with you. I'm going to stay connected to all of you through telepathy. But I'll only go as far as surface thoughts, meaning the stuff you think right away. And yes Sora, that was directed at you. If anyone asks why you're talking to yourself, you're just talking to yourself. I can set up one private channel at a time, so you'll need to tell me first that you want that piece of Intel to go to whoever before saying it. I'll need a couple minutes to set this up. Yes, our minds are now interconnected, so stop thinking about exploding the base to get this done faster Dean, cause it won't. Also, if Snake asks why we are talking to ourselves, you say that it's a codek. Same goes for Meryl, Otakon, and Grey Fox. No one else. In the event that one of us gets captured, _do not_ tell them _anything_ that you know. _Especially_ if it's about this group. The guards are dumb, so it should be easy to sneak past them. You can hide in a box and sneak past them. Don't forget that. On that note, let's move out," I explained. I got a collective "yes ma'am" from all of them. We split off and headed inside.

"Hey, you! What are you doing here?" one of the guards at the door demanded.  
"Prisoner shipment. These two were not only trespassing, but are suspected to be able to help Foxhound," I explained. I brought out the papers and he saw what I was hoping for him to see. He nodded and let us in. I contained my laughter this time. We proceeded with that ruse anytime we were caught by a guard. It was Psycho Mantis I was worried about running into, because he would see right through it. Great… another same element battle… We made it to the cells with little trouble. I locked Sora and Riku in the cells to keep up the ruse. If I didn't, they'd know something was up already. All we could do now was wait for Celeste and PJ to get here. From what I heard, it was going to be a little while. I sighed and pulled a pack of cards out of my pack. This was going to be a long few hours of card games… Fun…


	36. Chapter 36

After we split up and P.J. and I went through the barely guarded passage; all that went through my mind was how tired I'd been the last few days. I'd always been a laid back person who acted where it counted but after the whole mess started it was like I had an ultimate burst of adrenaline and it was starting to die down slowly. We rounded a corner and I almost ran into a guard that was right on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" I froze in place and tried to think of something. Suddenly the guard fell over and P.J. was standing there with his hand where the guard's neck was.

"You knocked him out why Dean?" I asked dragging the guard behind some boxes.

"Quicker. Now let's go Coral." I growled at the nickname as I followed.

The hallways were confusing as hell as I followed P.J. through the many twists and turns. Thankfully, it seemed like the guard we hit was the only one we were going to find. We kept walking when P.J. stopped me and started to listen near the turn that led to another hallway. As I silenced my breathing for a bit I heard a set of footsteps coming closer to where we were. I carefully looked around, but still stepped on something that echoed down the hall loudly and the footsteps stopped. My breath hitched as all we heard was silence. P.J. motioned for me to go down the hallway seeing as it would probably be better for me to go instead of him.

"Just taking one for the team huh?" I grumbled quietly but loud enough for him to hear. I saw him smirk in response. I slowly walked down the passage talking note for any cracks or something where someone could hide. As I passed a group of boxes, I heard something breathe so I stopped. I suddenly stupidly remembered that Solid Snake hid in boxes from the little info I had of the world so I walked towards them.

"You can come out now. I know you're there and I have no reason to attack you." Nothing. I sighed inwardly and walked over to the boxes. I kicked the pile as hard as I could and most of them went flying down the passage. Right next to my foot was Snake who was already sitting up.

"Who are you exactly?" He asked standing up.

"Agent Coral-Lynn Armstrong of the FBI. This is my partner Dean H. Pollok. Who are you?" I answered as P.J. walked up.

"Call me Snake. Are you sure you're old enough to be FBI?"

"Is your real name Snake?" I retorted. He smirked. "So why are you here?" I asked walking down the passage.

"There's a report that two Canadian Females were captured and taken to this base that was taken over by a group called FOXHOUND. Also, the group requested the remains of Big Boss for gene therapy to create an army of ultimate soldiers." Something clicked in my head.

"What year is this?" I asked randomly. The question took him by surprise.

"2005. You got short-term memory or something?" I waved my hand in the air.

"Nah just momentary random thoughts. I am only 16 after all. This is expected." This seemed to catch him off-guard.

"Anyway." P.J. interrupted. "We're meeting up with some people in the holding cells. You coming?" He said as he walked forward.

"Rachel. We're almost there. And we found Snake." I mumbled quietly while trailing behind P.J.

"You say something?" Snake asked as he decided to follow us.

"Nothing important." I kept walking, subconsciously tightening the ribbons that were around my wrists that summoned my scythes. Even if I can't use my powers, I could always just 'conveniently' find some scythes behind a box or something.

"So why are you here?" Snake asked as we hung a left, blindly following P.J. I almost stopped walking trying to think of an excuse without giving us away.

"We're here to retrieve the females and take them back with us to Canada. Our companions were sent here to infiltrate and dispose of Metal Gear REX." P.J. explained, saving me from thinking about an excuse that probably sucks anyway.

"You were given separate missions? So you're not working as a unit?" I decided I was too tired to think so I let P.J. explain.

"We teamed up just to get in here. We split up afterwards to get around easier. We're going to meet up again to accomplish our missions as a unit." P.J. shrugged.

"So you just met and decided to team up?" Snake seemed skeptical of our lie.

"We came here with them and decided we'd be better as a group." I added, finally paying attention to the conversation.

Suddenly a dark portal appeared in front of us and a bunch of heartless appeared.

"What the-?" Snake was already shooting at them. I looked and saw they weren't doing any damage.

"Snake! We gotta get outta here! They're immune to bullets!" I yelled as I jumped over them and ran down the passage way followed by P.J. and Snake.

"Dean!" I screamed as a large, gun wielding heartless jumped on P.J's back and tried to shoot him. In an instant reaction I took out my Desert Eagle and fired a round to knock it off him and kept running.

We finally slowed down to catch our breaths when we didn't hear anymore heartless.

"Rachel, the heartless are here." I mumbled.

'Oh really?' I heard her think back.

"Yeah. We'll be at your position soon."

"Who are you talking to?" Snake walked up and looked to see if I had some kind of communication device. I had an idea from a book I read.

"I have a communication chip located in my tooth for emergencies. We all had one, standard issue for our companions too when we came here." I quickly took the idea and stretched it to that.

"Convenient." Was all he said. I looked at P.J.

"Dean, how much farther?" I asked leaning against the wall and taking a water bottle I had packed at Radiant Garden out.

"Not much farther. We could meet up with them in five minutes if we hurry." I nodded as I looked at Snake who just got off his communicator thing. He looked at us and nodded.

We continued following P.J. until we hit a dead end when Snake decided to take the lead and I just lagged behind. P.J. looked pretty mad at this. Poor guy's pride was so fragile. But we did finally make it to Vicki and the others in after checking three minutes and forty-eight seconds.

"Rachel! Leon! Where's the other two?" I asked as Vicki pointed to the cells that held them. I laughed. "I knew you'd end up like that!" I gasped for air at their mad faces.

"Anyway." Squall interrupted. "Let's get them out and look for the prisoners first." So P.J. must have told them that much when I forgot. Our little group nodded together as Snake stepped up.

"Hold on." Snake interrupted. "There are a few problems in your story. First, I just checked, there is not and has never been an FBI agent as young as you." He said looking at me. I froze. He figured it out, typical. "Rachel DeRouen is a 22 year old who is actually one of the hostages here. Now do you mind telling me exactly who you are and what you're doing here?" I looked at Vicki.

"Haven't you heard of people with the same name?" Vicki retorted. "And besides, why would we tell you? Our true information is classified." Snake looked taken back but not insulted, in fact, he looked kind of amused.

"So what about the other four? They use their real names?" He motioned towards Squall and P.J, who had just gotten Sora and Riku out of their cages. Vicki was about to answer when some heartless appeared again. As I was about to run I saw Sora attack them with his keyblade. I face palmed as Riku joined in. _'Idiots, they'll blow our cover.'_ I thought as I looked at Snake who had a surprised look.

"First of all, Dean and Leon's identities are classified as well. As for Sora and Riku..." I trailed off.

"They were part of a unit called Project KEY that consisted of human experiments that allowed them to use special weapons specializing in destroying the heartless that attacked us earlier. So they came here as defense." Vicki said. I cheered in my mind.

"Why haven't the heartless had more publicity? Isn't it dangerous since they're immune to most weapons?" I just wanted to go find the hostages and get out.

"The government decided that they didn't want a pandemic as long as the heartless could be controlled without attacking largely populated areas. Until that happens, Project KEY is being used to keep their numbers down." Squall surprised me when he finally spoke. Thankfully Snake seemed to accept our explanation for now.

"So the cell with the prisoners?" Sora asked.

"From what I heard its a few rooms down." We all nodded as we made our way down the hall to the first door, checked for threats, found none and went to the next room, encountering few heartless on the way.

_'The guards must have met the heartless first.'_ I thought darkly as we made it to the door.

"Locked." Squall stated.

"This lock's child's play. Lemme take care of this." Vicki walked forward and had it unlocked in a matter of seconds.

"Ready?" I asked. I saw everyone nod as Vicki opened the door.


	37. Chapter 37

I wasn't surprised that Snake was suspicious of our story now. I was surprised at how quickly we were figured out though. That was going to be a problem. Especially with the "other me" being a captive here. Meeting her was not going to go well at all. I sighed to myself as I opened the cell door. Instantly, something smacked poor PJ in the head. It only took me a couple seconds to think of who it was. I slipped in and punched the perpetrator. She landed with an 'ouff' before springing up to tackle me. Celeste was having an easier time with the other girl in the room. I threw a punch at the older woman's face, only to receive one at the same time mine connected. We stumbled back a bit. I used this chance to whip out my MK 22 Hush Puppy and Samurai Edge to get her to stop. She smacked the tranquilizer gun out of my hand, flipped it around and pointed it at me. We stared in silence at each other, our guns pointed at each other's head. Tension filled the room slowly. Celeste was already with the other prisoner. Now this was going to get interesting.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, catching my attention again.  
"Definitely not the worst spy ever," I responded. I grinned when she figured out who I was talking about. She already seemed to clue in to what was going on through a quick analyze of me and Celeste.  
"First job?"  
"McDonald's. First Pokémon in Red?"  
"Charmander. You saw the Lion King Broadway production where?"  
"Toronto, Ontario, with my sister, mom, dad, and aunt. Favourite airbrush tattoo?"  
"The blue wolf with the red eyes. Looked the best. Aina'Mîr was given which colour beads after becoming a cleric, and in what pattern?"  
"Green, yellow, red, green, yellow, blue, repeat until elastic. Nameless's job was what and who did she work for?"  
"She was a special agent by day who worked for Tango Corporation. By night, and on certain occasions, she was a prophet working for and with the government, although they had no idea that it was really their top agent." We lowered our guns, much to the confusion of everyone else. I chuckled as she gave my gun back.

"You nerd," the woman mused.  
"Hey, same goes to you. You're just older Rachel," I snickered. Everyone was confused now, especially Snake. I couldn't help but grin.  
"By the way, who's the mutt?" Rachel chuckled, pointing at PJ.  
"The mutt's Dean H. Pollok," I responded. PJ glared at us, causing us to just grin.  
"Do you two know each other…?" Riku asked carefully. We looked at each other.  
"Well… um… How do we explain this one…?" I mumbled.  
"Hm… Well, 'The Great Demon Knight Rin' _did_ come see me a while ago, but that doesn't explain it… Hm…" Rachel thought out loud.  
"You saw Rin? Oh boy… oh, I know! It's really complicated and confidential," I giggled.  
"You just don't feel like explaining it, do you?" Celeste asked.  
"Nope," I replied, causing Celeste and PJ to sigh. Rachel and I giggled, turning to leave the room. Now this was going to be _fun_. There's now two of me to mess with people's heads, and we all know that doesn't work that well. Ever.

I slipped out first as I set up a connection to Snake, Rachel, and the now apparent other Celeste. I sniffed the air as quietly as possible. About three different scents wafted into my nose. I headed away from them, already knowing that it was guards. When everyone was out of the room, I locked the door behind us. A small jolt of electricity hit me. I just about let out a cry of shock when Rachel clapped her hand over my mouth.  
'Where the _hell_ did _that_ come from? Larxene's at Radiant Gardens!' I thought to Celeste. The Death Angel just gave me a slight shrug. Fortunately, I stored the jolt for later. Rachel released me. She was all seriousness now. This made me curious. She shook her head at my inquisitive expression and continued on. I shrugged and led the group through the halls to wherever I was going.

It had been a few hours of sneaking around when Rachel and both Celeste's forcefully pulled me aside. I guess 19-year-old Celeste finally bugged Rachel enough to haul me over to explain a bunch of crap in one go. Yay…  
"Okay, who are you really?" Rachel demanded. Ouch. I guess she's still suspicious.  
"If I told you the truth, you would not believe me," I replied. In an instant, I was held up by the neck and against the wall. Oh shit… I pissed me off.  
"Don't give me that crap, shifter. I want to know the truth. Now," she snarled. I just stared at her in shock, along with everyone else.  
"Shifter…? And you do realize killing me would create a time paradox, right?" I asked, kicking her away to give me room. She stumbled back a little before growling at me. I recognized it right away and hissed back. I could swear everyone was wondering whether to get the strait jackets or not.  
"I know you're here, Mantis… Possessing Rachel already gave it away…" I taunted.  
"Oh, we have a smart one…" Rachel grinned sadistically. I rolled my eyes.  
"I'm not scared. Just annoyed. And I'm not afraid to knock Rachel around, or of what will come afterwards," I hissed. I wasn't kidding either. All I'd have to do is dodge a few bullets, and that was already getting easier. Rachel grinned for a second and dropped to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Psycho Mantis appeared above her as she struggled to regain control of herself. I shut off all connections to everyone. Rachel was in absolute agony. I could actually feel her pain coursing through me. That wasn't a good sign.

"Seriously, I've been through hell since the beginning. I'm not in the mood for your tricks Mantis. Release the woman now, before I let Coral-Lynn go feral on your ass," I stated flatly, staring at Psycho Mantis without emotion. He stared at me like I was crazy. I walked over to a wall and sat down. More stares. Finally, Celeste caught the hint.  
"Hey! What's that over there?" she stated spontaneously. I just rolled my eyes as I began to concentrate. I was able to create a mental shield around everyone but Rachel, whose connection to Psycho Mantis was too strong to cut. That's what happens when your 'other' is a telepath, I guess. Snake was kind enough to knock her out right before she attempted to attack me again. Celeste popped out from behind some boxes with her scythes in each hand. I rolled my eyes again. Celeste flipped over them as Psycho Mantis began to throw objects at her. My eyes closed half way as I concentrated harder. Snake shot Psycho Mantis in the back. PJ and the older Celeste remained off to the side, caring for Rachel. Sora and Riku were little help here, opting to protect me so Celeste could focus on Psycho Mantis.

Celeste slammed her scythes into Psycho Mantis's shoulders. As she pulled back, he let out a muffled scream. Snake shot his entire clip off while Psycho Mantis was still distracted. Celeste drew a deep gash on her arm as she sliced in the same spot on Psycho Mantis. She was knocked away with a chair. Snake lie down on the ground, open firing on Psycho Mantis. Psycho Mantis turned his attention to him, flinging a desk at him. Snake dodged right on time.  
"You three are not human…" Psycho Mantis stated. I could feel the grin he had on his face under that mask. I shook violently.  
"In fact six of you are not from this planet. Why are you here…? Is it what you say? Or is it the Heartless, as you call them?" he taunted as he slammed Celeste into a wall. Celeste was shooting her Desert Eagle and Samurai Edge like crazy. I was slowly beginning to lose control on the walls. I growled softly. I shut my eyes, barely conscious of what the others were doing. My focus changed from the mental walls to myself in a flash. My own shriek of pain made almost everyone drop to the ground. It seems that in an attempt to use Rachel as a human shield against Celeste, Psycho Mantis caught me off guard and activated my screech ability. I writhed in pain next to Rachel. It felt as though someone was ripping my gut apart. I howled as Psycho Mantis hit Rachel with another blast. There goes my cover…

Psycho Mantis laughed as almost everything went on fire. I hissed, rolling into a crouched position. I could feel the hatred rising up and slowly beginning to take over. In fact, this was already beginning to feel worse than when I 'killed' Medusa. My arm burned as Phoenix tried to calm me down. It wasn't working at all. I didn't realize my aura was visible again until I dropped again. My back felt like it was on fire. While Celeste and Snake went back to fighting, the other Celeste was shouting at us to get up. I roared in pain again. My wings were trying to burst out of my back again. Sure it didn't hurt to retract and extend them as much as it did the first time anymore, but damn, getting forced to do it _hurts like hell_. I pulled my jacket off and allowed the wings to escape their fleshy prison. Snake's shocked face was priceless.  
"Damn it… You just caused me to disobey my own rule. Coral-Lynn, you're allowed to go all out now… Ow…" I muttered.  
"Finally!" Celeste laughed. It was only now that I noticed Celeste's eyes had changed from their current usual to an ordinary-looking set. Of course, I was noticing this as they were changing back. I was slowly losing consciousness now. Blood was seeping from my mouth.  
'Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Not good… woozy…' I thought before I blacked out.

"_Where am I now…?" I asked myself. All I could see were trees. Trees and the occasional flower. Sometimes a squirrel.  
"Your mind," someone responded gruffly. I turned around in shock. A woman was leaning against a tree. The four angelic wings and rainbow coloured hair was what caught my attention.  
"Ashikanarou?" I questioned softly.  
"You catch on quick, kid. However, I'm just a figment of your imagination, here to tell you stuff and yadda-yadda-yadda," she chuckled with a wave of her hand.  
"If there are two things that you are not, it is formal and a decent liar," came another voice. This one was male.  
"Ancestor? What is she doing here, in _my_ head?" I said as I looked at the creature coming up to me. He was still in his beast form.  
"Listen to her. She does not have much time before your connection is separated," he explained. Ashikanarou nodded to him.  
"I'm not giving you a tactic here, just a couple of things you'll need to know. One: Nemesis is going to come after you a lot more now. For some odd reason, he sees you two as "the new Jill Valentine", so to speak. Two: Wesker is a live and at the "heart" of this. Watch your back, and Celeste's. I'm going to tell Celeste the same later, in either a dream or when she gets knocked out. Oh! You're waking up now. See ya," Ashikanarou said quickly._

"Ash! Wait! What about-" I cut myself off and stared at my surroundings. It looked like a lab. Both Celestes were in my face almost immediately.  
"Give her space to breathe you two. I'd like not to create a time paradox, thank you," Rachel sighed before the two of them had the chance to question my condition. They backed off slowly. My tail brushed against my face. I pulled it up to my chest.  
"So much for 'blending in'," I sighed.  
"What are you?" Snake demanded. I knew he hated to be lied to, but the situation made it worse. I sighed again.  
"I'm not human, but that's obvious. I am the final result of an experiment done millions of years ago. This experiment was not done here. It was done on a completely different planet. It was done to make the perfect soldier. Obedient, strong, fast, and deadly. My kin are rare and scattered. My kin is known commonly as Beastial Elves, formally as Ryoushi no Keikaku. It's Japanese for Project Hunter. To the Fleurians, the Hunter Project should have made the perfect soldier, servant, whatever. But, I consider it a failure. For what they wanted, we all have the one thing that is the fault of all sentient beings; Free Will. Take that away, and they would have dogs without any desire other than to serve their respective masters. Great… I'm going philosophical on myself," I explained. I allowed myself some time to breathe, and for everyone to think of their questions.  
"Celeste, you're going to have a visit from an Angel I thought I created, okay?" I whispered. Celeste nodded.  
"So, this means that these four are also other worlders, right?" Rachel stated. It was way too obvious that she was just confirming the facts. I nodded.  
"Coral-Lynn is a Death Angel, Riku and Sora are Keybearers, Dean's a shape shifter, and Leon is Squall from Final Fantasy VIII. Damn, and I was hoping to keep this mission low profile. Now that our races are out in the open, Coral-Lynn and I are high profile targets again… shit…" I growled at my sudden realization. Rachel patted my head.  
"At least you're not Nameless, kid. The whole Beastial Elf thing; that makes you Lightless now, doesn't it?" she sighed.  
"Good point… but yes, it does. That's irrelevant, I think. How much do you actually know, Rachel?" I asked.  
"A lot more than I should. That's why I got caught in the first place. I'm not here because of FOXHOUND. I'm here because of what I know on you two already. What I gathered while I was in that cell and while Celeste was panicking or asleep, was that FOXHOUND is working with a Nobody. Sound familiar? And guess what. It's Big Rax," Rachel explained.  
"Big Rax...? Xigbar… shit…" I moaned. My wings and tail were slowly shrinking into my back. From Snake's facial expression, I could tell this greatly bothered him.

"This is a natural ability for me, Snake. I'm just doing it slowly because it's less painful and I need to look human," I told him. He just nodded.  
"So, what are your real names?" he asked.  
"One moment. And cover your ears," I said, before letting out a supersonic screech after everyone covered their ears. I nodded to let them know I was done.  
"Natural EMP," I explained.  
"Anyways, you will find out our names soon enough. For now, we need to focus on our real mission; locking your world to keep it out of the darkness," PJ grumbled. He was not happy about this. Not at all…

Soon, we left the little infirmary and made our way around to REX. We only just got to see Xigbar leave as Sniper Wolf aimed at me.  
"Look out!" I heard Erin call from behind me. Rachel pulled me away just in time. I blinked as I thought for a minute.  
"Does this mean I just saved my own ass?" I questioned, causing Rachel to giggle and Erin to stare at me in confusion. Erin must have popped up just in time to see Sniper Wolf take a shot at me. Talk about comic relief. I pulled my hunting rifle out of my bag. Erin grinned.  
"Coral, I want this one," I said as I crouched on the ground. She nodded to me as Erin reappeared beside me.  
"Nice of you to join us, Rin," I snickered.  
"Glad to be here. Lost the mini skirt, I see," she commented. I blushed as a red laser trailed up her body. Sniper Wolf's second shot hit Erin in the chest. Although it was a through-and-through, I wasn't worried. Having Erin here in this state was like having Dante, minus being hit on every five seconds. Erin and I shot at Sniper Wolf without the need to see her completely. Sniper wolf just simply ran away after a while. Finally, Snake's headband started to glow. It floated up and formed the keyhole, which Sora locked quickly.

"I need to talk to you two when you two are free, kay?" Erin said before teleporting away in the shadows.  
"Kay…?" I responded, staring at the shadow.  
"Hey, you think we could go see our parents?" Celeste asked out of nowhere.  
"I don't see a problem with it," the other Celeste responded.  
"I do. World order, remember?" PJ growled.  
"Give them a break, mutt. They're home sick. Anyone can see that. Also, no harm will come out of it, as long as it's just them, got it?" Rachel defended. PJ sighed in defeat. Snake was already gone.  
'Well… I think that says something…' I thought to myself.


	38. Chapter 38

So we were on our way back 'home' to see our parents from another world. Even with that fact in mind and all that happened I was still excited to see my parents. At least as much as I could.

"So whose house first?" P.J. asked as all eight of us sat in a large van. Man, were we lucky that we found this van; even if we were all crammed in the back with our others in the front, as Rachel and the other me took turns driving.

"Mine's closer, so I guess mine." Rachel replied. I looked at my other.

"You knew we were gunna move at our age, but we moved a lot more after. We're a ways away now." I shrugged my shoulders in response as my other talked to me.

"Well what are we gunna do while you have a reunion?" Sora asked beside me.

"Wait." Vicki, our others and I all said at once. Everyone else sweat dropped.

We finally pulled up in Rachel's parking lot and I walked in with her, Vicki, and the other Celeste. Rachel entered first with Vicki as my other and I stayed behind. Her parents came out surprised and happy to see her safe then looked at Vicki questionably.

"Hey mom? Dad? Yeah...Apparently other planets have life. Also, seems that some are parallel worlds are something." Rachel went right to the point.

"What are you getting at?" He dad looked at her like she had a second head.

Rachel pulled Vicki in front of her. "Dad, meet mini me from another planet." There was a deadly silence, until her sister spoke up.

"I told you that you were an alien!" My other and I left as the two Vicki's glared at their sister.

"So Celeste, call her or something and let her know we're gunna leave without her and pick her up later so she can spend time with her family okay." I said as I sat in the passenger and my other turned the van on. She nodded as she opened her phone and sent a text message.

I had almost fallen asleep when my other shook my arm and told me to get out. I quietly got out of the car seeing the four guys asleep in the back. I giggled to myself at the sight as we walked into the dark house.

"Time?" I asked as she unlocked the door.

"9." She said as she opened the door. I waited in the back as everyone had their reunion and finally Celeste pulled me near her.

"Hey mom you won't believe this!" She said excitedly.

"What?" I almost broke down and cried right there from the sound of her voice.

"There are parallel worlds! I have a little me!" She announced proudly as she side-stepped and exposed me.

"Oh hello?" I felt my heart stop as I looked up to her eyes.

"Look its mini me!" My other obviously was ignoring the atmosphere. I guess old habits die hard.

"Hi mom." I half whispered. Holding back sobs. My mom looked at me a second before fainting.

"Oh god mom!" We both yelled at the same time as my dad looked in shock. My sisters kept looking at me.

"So, am I the older one now?" Leave it to Heaven to ruin the moment while our mother was out for the count. Both me's glared at her.

"You better watch it sis. I still got big me to whip you into shape." I smirked as I heard my other start laughing.

So after that spectacle, my mom woke up and gave me some food to eat saying I was looking too thin or something, then I remembered the others in the van and asked if I could have some more for them. When she asked if they could come in I said that I was disrupting the world order as it was and left it at that. So I took some food and gave it to the guys in the van after making sure they were awake.

"So I guess I'll have to go get Vicki now and be on our way." I muttered sadly as I saw my mom come out.

"Well I hope I can see you again, even though you're already here." My mom smiled at her own joke. And I hadn't told them what happened to the other her. I suddenly broke down crying as I hugged her tightly. She returned the gesture and started to cry a bit herself. After recovering I let go. Gave them a thumbs up and ran to the van before I cried again.

We picked up Vicki a few hours back and Squall had started driving cause besides P.J. he was the only one that remembered exactly how to get back to the gummi ship. The ride had become incredibly quiet as Vicki and I both had no intention of really talking to anyone.

"It's so hard," I whimpered . Everyone looked at Vicki like she would translate.

"Once Sora and the others release Kingdom Hearts, everything will go back. Besides don't you want to see our real parents first? We won't be able to if the walls are rebuilt remember? Vicki's face was almost emotionless. Her eyes were still a little red, but she wasn't crying at all now. In fact, she seemed almost angry as she spoke. I sniffled and only Sora looked shocked at this reaction. Though I couldn't see P.J.'s face.

"You really miss them huh?" I looked over to see Riku still looking out the window though it was him who talked. I let a tear slip down my cheek.

"I almost don't wanna go." I whispered, barely heard. I heard shuffling and looked up to see P.J. as he picked me up and put me in his lap and just held me. I cried silently so no one could hear.

_I was sitting on a cliff overlooking the never-ending sea. I was being shaded by an apple tree on an island I knew too well. It was the island I thought about to clear my mind when it was in turmoil. My happy place. I looked at the castle behind me as I saw a figure walk up to me._

_'Its nice.' was all they said as they sat down._

_'I don't know you, you the one Vicki told me about?' I didn't want stupid mind games at the moment_

'_Yes and I need to tell you, Nemesis is after you and Wesker is alive and at the center of all this. You need to watch yours and Vicki's backs'. I nodded in response._

_'So does that mean Wesker is after kingdom hearts too?' I mused to myself as a small breeze drifted by._

_'Couldn't tell ya. Well anyway you're gunna wake up soon so later.' I looked at the sunset in front of me as everything faded to blackness._

"Well, we're here. Ready?" I dimly heard anything as I was still half asleep. P.J. picked me up and carried me out of the van.

I heard faint shuffling as everyone got out.

"What the?" I opened my eyes as I saw Squall pull a piece of paper off the gummi ship and read it. "I don't think you'll want to leave just yet." He said as he handed the paper to Vicki. I squirmed in P.J.'s hold as Vicki paled.

"He got them?" I took the note.

_I have taken your family, meet me outskirts of the base if you want them. You know what I want in return._

_The Freeshooter._

"Well I know who I'm gunna kill today." I growled darkly as I stood up and scrunched the note in my hand. "And I don't wanna risk this." I thought about something randomly. "You think that the heartless are still all in the base?" I got funny looks.

"Maybe..." I didn't even hear who answered as I unfolded my wings and took off as fast as I could.

"Please work." I prayed as I ran into the building. I looked around the whole base. "If all Kingdom Hearts knowledge is right, then..." I trailed off as a large heartless came out of nowhere. "Hello boss battle." I smirked as I leapt. If I was right I wouldn't have to risk my sanity anymore. The heartless in question was like double the size of a person and held a big machine gun with the heartless emblem on its gun and chest, which was covered with some kind of armor. I quickly took out my scythes and attacked in every place I could reach, recklessly attacking. I didn't want to use my trace method as it took souls and I didn't want to waste them just in case. Finally it fell and its heart was released. I tried to absorb it in some way but nothing was happening. I finally made a desperate attempt to physically grab it before it got away. But I went up to fast and hit it with my neck. Suddenly the necklace that Jill gave me started to glow and the heart was absorbed into the necklace. I was so happy I forgot to flap my wings to stay up and fell down. I was suddenly caught by someone and set on my feet, but they were gone before I could get a good look. "Probably Snake or something." I mumbled as I ran out of the building just in time to see Vicki come into the hallway I was entering.

"Celeste! What the hell did you run off for?" she growled. I grinned as I pulled up the glowing necklace.

"Soul collecting." I simply said before turning serious. "Now to get back at Xigbar." I said as I followed her to the rest of the group. All she gave me was a confused look.

"Let's go." Was all I said not wanting to explain the whole story at the moment.

We made it to the outskirts of the base and sure enough saw Xigbar with two figures behind him.

"Three in the morning is not a good time for this." I heard P.J. mumble behind me which confused me.

"Guess I won't be sleeping tonight." Squall said from beside P.J.

"There's only two hostages." Riku said. "Who are they?" I looked at the shadow on the right.

"Mom!" I shouted, I could see her as clear as day all of a sudden. Vicki suddenly had a shocked face as well.

"Alex!" She shouted as she almost started to run to them. Squall stopped her.

"I have to give him the heart." I said it so confidently but inside I was panicking. _'What if it doesn't work? What if I need to make it myself? How the hell am I getting it out of the necklace?'_ The last one confused me the most. How would I give it to him?

"You're an ass you know that." I growled wanting nothing more than to keep my mom and Alex out of any type of violence caused by us.

"Yeah, yeah get on with it." I growled at him as he sneered at me. I took the necklace out of my shirt and held the glowing pendant out. "What the hell is that supposed to do?" I looked at it funny.

"How am I supposed to get it out?" I questioned as I shook it quite stupidly in front of him. I heard someone sigh behind me.

"Give me that." Xigbar grabbed my necklace which was still attached to my body so I fell forward and landed on him. As I fell forward the pendant made contact with Xigbar and the glow intensified. Then died completely. Xigbar blinked and let go of me before putting his fingers to his neck in shock.

"So, with that. You gunna go back with us?" I asked as Vicki made quick work of getting our family members untied.

"You going back to Radiant Garden?" I nodded.

"But first, we gotta get those two back." I said pointing to the other two as my mom came up to me and smiled.

"I hate to rush our reunion, but I should get back to you and the family now." I couldn't help but chuckle at her lame joke.


	39. Chapter 39

"Hate to break the moment guys, but Alex needs to be back at HQ before twenty-three hundred hours. She's got a graveyard shift," I grumbled, before smacking Xigbar down with my wing. I loved seeing Alex's surprised face when I pulled that trick out of my back. I was going to have to enjoy this one while it lasted. I rarely got Alex the way I was doing now. I got multiple stares just on what I said.

"HQ equals home, twenty-three hundred hours equals eleven PM," I explained. I turned around as I let my other wing out, just in time to smack Xigbar again. A scent wafted by my nose. I swore silently.  
"Heartless?" Celeste asked. I nodded. Celeste swore. We summoned our weapons that instant. Unlike her, I also had my guns in hand.

"This is going to get real ugly, real fast," I said.  
"No kidding," Celeste responded with a sigh.

I was the first to go into the base. Alex, being a nurse was useless in the current combat level of these soldiers. So was Celeste's mom. Not that either of them had experience in military style fights, at least to my knowledge. That was Rachel's job, literally. We ran through the base, Celeste and I in front and blowing everything up, PJ and Squall in the back, covering the rear. Everyone else just stayed in the middle. I shuddered as I smelt a new scent. From what I could tell, it was the scent of a massacre. I ran in its direction, telepathically telling Squall to get Celeste's mom and Alex out of the building. It's nice having someone who will _actually listen_ to my orders. I felt like I was becoming second in command or something.

I slid into the room and nearly gagged. There was a gruesome pile of dead bodies in the middle of the room, with one of the last creatures I wanted to see sitting on top of them.  
"Of course it would have to be Ridley. Next thing you know, Nemesis is going to come in, and they will beat us to a pulp. F my life moment…" I grumbled, "Damn, I wish we had Pikachu with us. Then we might have-"I was cut off by Nemesis barging in.  
"… _Run like hell!_" Celeste and I cried at the same time. We split up immediately as Ridley noticed us. Of course, he would chase me, and Nemesis would chase Celeste. I jumped into the air and spun around with a ball of acid in my mouth. He smacked me with his tail, causing me to spit it out prematurely. The acid ball landed right on his beak. Ridley screeched in pain as he shot fireballs at me. I only allowed one to hit, absorbing it into my body. I dodged his ram attack and dove towards Celeste.  
"Celeste! Give me one of your guns!" I shouted as I flew above her.  
"Why?" she yelled back.  
"Just do it!" Celeste tossed up her Chicago Typewriter. I grinned as I filled it with the fire energy. I dropped it down to her and flew off. I was proud for a moment when I saw the bullets fired ignite in a white hot flame. Now I turned my attention back to Ridley.

I dodged his tail and claws. I pulled out my Samurai Edge and fired off the last of my thunder charged bullets. Some bullets that weren't mine or Celeste's hit Ridley as he attempted to dodge mine. It was Snake, with a nice looking automatic. I swooped down under Ridley, slicing at his chest. Unfortunately, Water Song couldn't reach far enough into his skin to cause fatal damage. I slashed again, a stream of fire lashing out at Ridley. Ridley took hold of the fire and pulled me forward. Suddenly, one of Snake's bullets skimmed Ridley's wing. Ridley dropped me, screeching in pain. As I fell to the ground, I created a cushion of wind for myself and pulled Celeste away from Nemesis at the same time. I howled to Ridley as I took off again. I was slowly losing my more "human" instincts. I dropped Water Song to ground, who returned to her human form. I was wondering when she was going to do that. Just as I was turning my attention back to Ridley, I felt his tail slam me into a wall. I screeched in response.

I slid slowly to the ground. I felt weak and frail. My eyes closed as I attempted to shut out the pain.  
'_It's time, kit,_' my ancestor whispered.  
"Time for what?" I muttered. I could barely move. I hurt throughout my entire body. A strange heat coursed through my body, starting from my heart.  
'_Time for you to become, what you truly are…_' he responded.  
"Become… what I truly am…?" I asked softly.  
"Vicki! Get up!" Water Song called. She was frantic.

I began to stand up, but my legs cracked. I fell forward in pain, howling out my frustration. No one was attacking me, or helping for that matter. That must have meant I was changing again. But into what? What other form could I possibly have? Miu was never created with a "true form". I howled again as my wings grew twice their normal size. I could just see that my body was adjusting itself to the sheer size of this form. When my hands became paws, that's when it hit me. A Hiren'Faroth. Lord of the Hunt. That's what I was turning into. A chimera of a canine and a flying creature. Pain rocketed up to my face as it switched from elfish to wolf in a split second. My clothes melded into a collar around my silver fur covered neck. Finally, my transformation was complete. I slowly stood on all fours, my head still bowed. I threw my head up and howled. Now I was pissed and confused.

I shot forward, just slow enough so Celeste and Water Song could on my back. I was almost constantly drooling acid now.  
'Gross…' I thought.  
"Hey Vicki, can you talk?" Water song asked. I barked.  
'Apparently not,' I told her telepathically.  
"Good. Then you can't gripe," she chuckled.  
'Take this seriously or I drop you,' I growled to her. I trailed the acidic drool over Ridley and Nemesis. They screeched in pain. Water Song jumped off and landed on Nemesis.  
"That should keep him busy," Celeste commented. I nodded and refocused my energy on Ridley. He shot a few fire balls at us. I dove right trough them. It didn't even hurt to absorb them. Half of the fire went to our guns, and the other half flew out of my mouth and into Ridley's face. To say the least, I felt like a Mary-Sue. Celeste fired her guns rapidly at him, actually hitting vital spots Snake had disappeared again. I slammed my body into his with full force. My speed quickened as I smacked him with my claws. The two of us started not even planning our next move. I chomped on his neck as Celeste flew around and slashed wherever I wasn't hitting. We smacked into the floor before I ripped his arm off. Ridley threw me off and started to charge up another attack. He was just about ready when there was a large explosion in the base. He shot the charge off into the ceiling, creating a nice hole.  
"I guess I will finish you of another time, Lightless. Give my regards to the Huntress when you see her. Nemesis! Let's go!" he hissed. Water Song had already reverted into her sword form when she slammed into the wall. Ridley grabbed nemesis and flew out through the hole before causing to rain down on us. I struggled to stand, but I painfully reverted back to my normal form, clothes and all. I was badly wounded, and barely conscious. My mind wandered into Celeste's.

Celeste pulled Water Song out of the wall. Water Song called out to me, although all I could hear was barely audible. PJ caught up to us and picked me up. Water Song fainted, reverting back into a sword. Celeste picked her up and ran for her life. I couldn't see where PJ was, but from what I could barely hear, he was right behind her. Celeste felt a bit weak, but she still had enough energy to run. My mind flickered for a second.

"There! I see sunlight at the end of the tunnel!" Celeste called. Celeste looked at my half dead body. Thank _God_ Alex was a nurse. She was tending to my wounds as quickly as she could. Celeste focused back on what was in front of us. Squall was driving with Sora in the passenger seat. I could hear a faint whisper before Celeste looked behind her.  
"Heartless!" she called. I saw Celeste's mom and Alex duck, while trying not to suffocate me. Celeste began to open fire. My mind flickered again.

The smell of burning fuel and snow filled the air. I coughed. My eyes opened slowly. I was in my own body again.  
"Ow. Stupid new technique," I muttered. I sat up slowly. I shrunk my wings into my back. I could faintly hear the main theme of Metal Gear Solid playing in the back of my mind. I struggled to stand up. Snake walked up to me and helped me stand everyone else seemed to have either left me behind, or gone off to grab the gummi ship and pick me up. I looked at Snake, then at Meryl, who was standing behind him.  
"You alright?" Snake asked me.  
"It's not that bad. It just hurts a lot. I'll just… lick my wounds and carry on," I laughed. Snake nodded with what was almost a smile. We progressed down a natural ramp on the rock formation that had formed and supported Shadow Moses over the years. The gummi ship landed as soon as Snake pulled out a snow mobile. I smiled.  
"Looks like I'm going another way," I chuckled. A knot was forming in my throat. I actually didn't want to leave anymore. It was hard enough that my family was here, but my genetic line was elsewhere.  
"Take care of each other," I told the pair.  
"Don't worry, we will," Meryl chuckled.

I turned around abruptly and began to walk away. I hear Snake's feet shuffle quickly. I turned around and looked at him. He was saluting me. I stood at attention and saluted him as well. Truly, this was a scene that I had pictured, but never thought would happen. But here we were, saluting each other. Our arms dropped to our sides at the same time, slowly, as if we were saying our final goodbyes to a dear friend. It almost seemed as though he knew Celeste and I for a long time.  
"You are a truly remarkable soldier, Rachel DeRouen," Snake complimented, "Or, should I say, Victoria of Ramose?" He seemed a bit smug with the comment. I chuckled.  
"I am both Rachel and Victoria. Yet, I was born under another name, which I have yet to find. But, here, and now, I have found that I am not exactly what I thought I was. We are alike, you and I. We are both genetically engineered beings, fully functional, yet… defective. Because we look like natural born humans, we act like them, and essentially are, them. But does that make us one of them?" I responded. I had a half hearted smile on my lips.  
"Yes, and no. most, will see us as monsters. Only with those we are akin with, will we be considered 'normal'," Snake answered. Obviously, he had thought about this in the base.  
"But there is no normal. Normal is habit, and habit is repetition. Repetition is that never ending loop we find ourselves in. for millennia, humans have attempted to end the habit of war, but history is just repetition. It is in our nature to return to old habits. But you are right. Only our kin will see us for who we truly are. We are monsters in everyone else's eyes, because 'normal' states that anything that is different is not 'safe' therefore must be destroyed. That ideal has killed so many… and yet we can do nothing about it. The Philosophers, the Patriots… no matter who it is, the wars continue because deep down inside, we are all savage animals. We consider ourselves intelligent, but we only run on the instincts we learn. All we can do is _try_ to stop war from happening again. There will always be a new best weapon, a new enemy, and an old way to stop them. We are always at war, even if we do not see it. Life and death, the dove and the snake, the light and the dark… they go hand in hand, Snake. That's why I was created, that's why you were created, and that's why Nemesis was created. We are all tools of someone else's war, and we can't do anything about it but run away from the purpose of our creation. But we do have hope. All we have to do is refuse to fight amongst ourselves. That was the Boss's vision. One Earth, united under a single banner. That was the original goal of the Patriots. And that is why we fight. But the cycle continues. Until all races learn how to stop fighting and unite, there will always be war and suffering," I sighed, "I guess that is a vision that no one can fulfill. We are all violent by nature, whether we are grown in a test tube or born naturally." Snake placed his hand on my shoulder.  
"There is still hope. For humans, elves, angels… everything. One day, we will stop fighting, killing each other for money and power. One day," he said in an almost reassuring voice. I nodded.  
"One day… I just wish that day would come sooner…" I sighed again.  
"You should go to your ship. Your friends are waiting for you," Meryl said. I nodded.  
"Thanks for listening. I will visit, some day," I chuckled before I left. As I crawled into the gummi ship, I could hear the faint whispers of their voices.

"Are you going to be alright?" Celeste asked. I nodded.  
"I'm going to need some time to myself though… anyways; we should head back to Radiant Gardens. I'm going to nap the entire way, okay?" I responded. Celeste nodded. I left for the back of the ship. I chuckled at the sleeping pods Cid had installed recently. I weakly crawled in and shut the door, leaving a note on it saying not to wake me unless it was important.

I hadn't woken up until we got back to Radiant Gardens. I yawned calmly as the door opened. Man, I felt good. The note flopped down into my lap. I chuckled a little then sat up and stretched. My bones cracked a couple times. Nothing was going wrong yet.  
"Three… Two… One…"  
"Vicki! Where are you?" I chuckled. They forgot where I was. I slid out of the pod and walked out of the ship. I ducked the moment I set foot on the ground, causing Zoey to fly right over me. There was a strangely satisfying crash before I chose to stand. I couldn't help but grin, seeing poor Zoey with swirls in her eyes. I picked her up.  
"Hi you," I giggled. Zoey shook her head and hung off of me.  
"I knew they didn't forget you!" she cried in a worried tone. I sighed.  
"Come on. I need some coffee," I told her. She nodded and dragged me to the kitchen. Something was off. I didn't think that it was the result of my no coffee episode. It felt… like fear… Axel was in the kitchen. He handed me the coffee so fast, I wondered how he didn't spill it. Now I was confused. I shrugged it off and thanked Axel before leaving the room.

Eventually, I stumbled on a conference that had started without me. I guess simply because no one could find me. I listened carefully at the door.  
"What if she turns on us?" It was Sora. Who was he talking about?  
"You can't just assume that. I've known her long enough to know that it would be a cold day in Hell when she did. At that, it would be against her will." Nice defense Celeste. Maybe Erin is the person? I mean, very few people trust demons… But then again…  
"You said it yourself! Vicki acted like she wasn't even in control of herself!" PJ's accusation caused me to stand there in shock. Me? They were talking about me?  
"PJ! This is _Vicki_ we're talking about! She only hits us for being stupid!" Celeste cried.  
"She's right, you know. On top of that, she is defensive about us. Wesker would have to put a P-30 device on her, and before that would happen she would either run or attempt to blow him up. You know how much she hates him," Jill replied calmly. PJ doubted the fact that I was on their side? At least I had two people on my defense. Unfortunately, even with being caffeinated, who knew what was going to happen. A low quiet growl escaped my throat.  
"All the same, we should keep an eye on her. With a spy leaking our information out to Wesker, this new form of hers is a serious problem. I'll be back. I need to get something to eat," PJ sighed. When he opened the door, I was still standing there.  
"Uh, hi Vicki! I was just-"PJ started.  
"Stay the hell away from me," I hissed. I couldn't even look at him anymore.  
"Vicki? What's-" PJ began.  
"_I said get away from me!_" I roared. I bolted in another direction, crying. I could just barely hear him calling out to me.

I ran for I don't know how long. All I knew was that I wanted to get away from Pajashok. Anywhere was better than where he was. I pushed by anyone who came near me until I collapsed in a dark room. I didn't even want to get up. I had already stopped crying, but the sobs were still there. I closed my eyes as I was lifted off the ground. I watched my memories from a third person point of view, emphasizing the fact that I would never do such a thing.  
"Shh… it's okay, Vicki…" Aerith comforted. I opened my eyes. I could barely see her image, my eyes were so watery. I clung onto her as the tears flowed again. A hand softly touched my shoulder. I heard the person sit down. Suddenly, there was a gun strap against my back. It was Erin. The three of us stayed there for a while, not even budging as I cried my heart out. I wouldn't be back to 'normal' until about a week later. Fortunately for everyone else, we needed to be here for that long due to some adjustments needed on the gummi ship. There was still one problem though… I have a hard time letting go of grudges. And now, my relationship with PJ just went down the tube. I never thought I could trust him again… Ever…


	40. Chapter 40

Something wasn't right. Ever since we got back P.J. hasn't been acting the same. And after what just happened with him not defending Vicki at all I knew something was up. And what was weirdest of all, the aura of my adopted brother wasn't the same as what was displayed right now. As I saw Vicki run off and everyone look uncomfortable I followed 'P.J.' out as he went to the kitchen.

"This is going to be a problem." He sighed as I fell into step beside him.

"The whole Vicki scenario? I know. Why don't you trust her all of a sudden?" If I knew P.J. like I thought I did. I knew he'd never blow me off if I asked a question. So I was gunna see how much this guy knew.

"I don't want to take risks; it's not that I fully doubt her reliability. But after what happened, she's most likely in the red light with Wesker." So they are after her.

"There has to be something. I mean we haven't even seen Wesker, and he's done all this. There must be someone else helping." Jumping to another topic I opened my senses a bit more to find out where the real P.J. was.

"Perhaps." When the fuck did my dog say _perhaps_?

"Perhaps? When do you say that?" I was in deep now, but I've always been a risk taker when it comes to pissing people off.

"Well, it's not that weird to use different words once and a while." Nice cover, but P.J. wouldn't react like that.

"What no sarcastic comeback? What happened to the brother I know?" I saw them twitch.

"We're in a state of crisis right now-" I cut him off.

"Oh My God! Like Crisis Core?" I saw their aura thry to keep down a killing intent. Then I saw it, P.J.'s aura in the room next to me.

"Imma be right back bro. Go eat before you dissapear on me again." I said as I went to the door leading to the room.

"Where are you going?" It was faint, but I could hear the fear in their voice. I looked over and grinned darkly.

"To go get my real brother asshole." I looked at them and slashed across my face. I saw the wound open as I rushed into the room, leaving the imposter to scream in shock. I looked around the room to see P.J. tied up and chained to the wall in the corner of the room. He looked up at me and relaxed visably before tensing again and looking behind me.

"Troublesome bitch." The imposter growled, still disguised as P.J. "I'll kill you now. Wesker has no real use for you anyway. You can just disappear to make it easier." I jumped back and sliced P.J's ropes with my scythe.

"Get outta the damn chain. What are you a dog?" I grinned as he got up and effortlessly broke the chain.

"No more than you." I grinned and swung at the imposter with the scythe in my left hand as I took out my desert eagle with my right and fired rounds at the figure.

"You got lucky, seems like I'll have to attack your blind spot next time." And with that the figure disappeared into the darkness.

"Get back here you son of a bitch! If you hurt anyone I'll kill you!" I shouted throwing my scythe at where the figure was a minute ago. "Damn it to hell!" I screamed in frustration.

"What's going on?" Snow asked worried as he saw me. "You drunk again?" I reddened in response.

"It was one time and no. Call an emergency meeting, everyone needs to know this. No matter how strained it will make things afterwards." Snow gave me a quick glance before I added. "Vicki too. Especially Vicki." And with that he ran to alert everyone.

"Guys. I just found this out because of my ability to read auras, but I know who the spy is." Everyone looked at me expectantly. "It's a shapeshifer. That's why we haven't found them right away. But this low move of pretending to be Pajashok allowed me to figure out who it is at all times, sadly the imposter got away and has probably already told Wesker about this failure." I sighed. "And the imposter was the one that made us think Vicki was up to something." I looked towards her. She looked pissed off as hell. Leave it to her seeing as she can hold grudges for a while. But she also looked embarrassed and tried to leave but Erin caught her shoulder to keep her there.

"Vicki I know you're upset but we need to plan and you need to accept this really could have ended worse." She reluctantly stayed down for a bit. "Besides, they're probably not coming back while I'm here."

"So what now?" I looked towards Paine who was sitting on the other end of the long table.

"We become more careful. If someone's acting suspicious, or even says something they wouldn't normally say." I looked at P.J. as I said this, who looked at me with a knowing look. I smiled in response. "But, this doesn't mean you need to start getting on everyone's case. Most likely come and find me and I'll see for certain if it's an imposter or not."

"What if they disguise themselves as you?" Quistis asked sitting a little ways away from me.

"Ask Vicki to read my mind. She can instantly track me and find out if it's really me. You know. She'd probably be able to tell now that I'd think about it." I trailed off as Vicki finally got up and left. "The unrelenting." I mused to myself as the door closed behind her. "Point of the matter is, while they're busy make some kinda code between people that you are normally with so if the shifter comes back at least someone will be able to tell who it is while were gone." With that I left and followed after Vicki.

"It's not going to do any good if you look for him, I couldn't pick anything up after they disappeared." I said as I caught up with her.

"Better safe than sorry." I sighed and gave up following her instead going down the next hallway.

_'Things just got a lot more complicated.' _I sighed as I rounded a corner coming face to face with Sephiroth. _'And it just got SO much worse.'_ I looked up at him as he glowered at me.

"We have some unfinished business." He said as I shrunk away a bit. _'Damn, why can't I stand up to him? And why now?'_ I inwardly cried.

"Apparently says you." I retorted. His expression darkened. I cringed. "Anyway, I have somewhere I need to be. That isn't here." I started to run just to be pulled back by my jacket collar. As an instant reaction I spun around and lashed out, kicking him in the gut. As his group loosened a little bit I ran as fast as I could down the hall. "Maybe I should find some way to make it up and start anew with him." I mumbled as I slowed down, but started running again as I saw him round the corner. "Just not now!" I squealed as I ran to keep distance as an advantage. I kept rounding corners and trying to trick him by turning right after but it was like he knew where I was. He was almost upon me when I rounded another corner and hit someone. Thankfully they caught me before I fell.

"Sephiroth. There are more important things we should be doing right now besides attacking allies." I looked up to see Vincent glaring at his kid. _I've never been this happy to see a grown up!'_ I thought to myself as Sephiroth walked off.

"Just be careful. I'll do more than scar your shoulder next time." I stuck my tongue out as he walked away.

"Sorry. I don't know why or how I keep egging him on." I said as I shrugged my shoulders. Vincent just looked ahead.

"It's not often he gets angered that easily, you seem to have a knack for it." I grinned in response.

"Just another talent I've obtained over the years." I said as I walked away.

"Be careful though. I don't think that's a good thing in this case." I frowned in response.

"I know I learned it the hard way, remember?" I said as I pointed to my shoulder. And with that I left his presence and wandered around once again.

Not much happened after that. Cid was still working on the Gummis and next thing I knew it was halfway through May. No sign of the spy and I was bored and overheated.

"Man I miss my friends too much." I sighed sadly as I walked down the hall and outside. I blinked as I looked at a large garden with a pool in the middle. "They always go all out in these kinda places." I mused as I walked over and placed my hand in the cool water.

"You got that right." I looked around to see Demyx rushing down the path in swimming trunks as he jumped into the pool.

"You always swim by yourself?" I asked as he started swimming towards me.

"Nah just got here first. Everyone else'll be here in a bit." I was hit with an idea. "Can I join too?" Demyx nodded as I quickly got up and ran off. I'll be back in a bit." I waved as I ran off.

_'Vicki where are you?' _I asked in my mind as I ran into the building.

_'Library.' _I grinned as I passed the rest of the pool party goers that were behind Demyx.

I ran down the halls at breakneck speeds past everyone that was going to the pool, each time my grin getting bigger and bigger. "Hard to believe it's May already." I mused as I ran towards the doors. Sadly I didn't realize it was shut so I ran face first into the door. I slowly got up and opened the door with a big grin on my face as Vicki, Aerith, and Jill all looked at me funny. Erin must have already left.

"Get your bathing suits on ladies. We're having a party." I grinned as I grabbed Vicki's hand and lead her out of the library. "Common!"

The four of us walked out together as the party continued to rage. I was grinning ear to ear in a pair of swimming trunks and a bikini top. Vicki seemed to brighten up a bit too, though she had her bathing suit under her clothes. Jill was wearing a blue one-piece while Aerith was only wearing some shorts and a tube top. I shouted as I cannon balled into the water. As I surfaced I was greeted with cheers and a few shocked soaked faces.

"Yahoo!" I got out of the way just in time as Layle used his crystal powers to swing off a tree into the water. I uncovered my face and whooted.

I saw Vicki off to the side not really wanting to get wet just yet. I grinned to myself as I got out and walked over to Zack, Genesis, and Angeal. "Hey Zack could you do me a favour?"

I watched in triumph as Zack picked Vicki up and threw her in the water screaming all the way. I keeled over laughing as I high-fived Zack.

A little bit later and Xaldin had a bunch of hotdogs and hamburgers grilled and ready for eating. I was about to go get one when a wave of water hit me and I went tumbling into the pool. _'Pranks are so much better with powers.'_ Since my body didn't need most things to survive I decided to see how long I could hold my breath. I stayed under there swimming around till I suddenly got lifted up by some unknown force and placed on the side of the pool. As I felt the crystal presence from Layle I started grinning like an idiot.

"That was fun." I said as I got up and walked over to grab some food. I stuck my tongue out as I walked past Vicki.

As the day went on and after a few swimming suits were lost by diving and a few more pranks were pulled I sat near the balcony on the far side looking at the sunset. _'I always smell like wet dog.'_ I thought absent-mindedly.

"God I smell like wet dog." I almost choked on my own air as Vicki sat down beside me. "Thanks for bringing me." She said as she sat beside me.

No problem. I smiled and I lay back as I watched the sunset.

Talking like this now? She smiled, not exactly unimpressed.

Yep, so we can talk about anything and no one can hear us. I grinned. Anyway who was your fave FF guy? I'm such an ass sometimes.

Uhh... she thought for a moment. It's between Cid and Snow. I nodded.

Wanna ask one? She shook her head. Too tired. She laughed lightly. There goes that. Vicki?

Hmm? I bit my lip.

What do you miss most about home? I heard her sigh sadly.

At first I thought she wasn't going to answer until she said. The normality. I looked down at the ground. Can't disagree with that. I heard footsteps behind me and saw P.J. walk up to us.

"Cid said he'll have the Gummis done by mid afternoon tomorrow." I nodded as he gave us a sad looked and walked off.

Know what else I miss? I looked at Vicki as she smiled slightly. The hot chocolate mix for my coffee. I started to laugh as she giggled a bit.

Well, we should get to bed soon. So we won't pass out tomorrow. I smiled as she got up with me and we walked back into the building.


	41. Chapter 41

We had woken up fairly early the next morning. And by "we", I mean Celeste. I was literally dragged out of bed. Yeah… not a morning person. I had soon found out that only five of us were going to the next world, since Kairi was enjoying a little time at "home" and no one else wanted to go. What actually got me to the ship was the mention of "coffee". To say the least, I wasn't impressed to find out that I was tricked. I now had one tea bag left, so I savored the replacement as long as I could. Being shot at did _not_ help keep the liquid in the cup. Let's just say, I don't think anyone wants a coffee-less me on the guns anymore…

We arrived at Atlantica after a couple of long days. Before we beamed down, I insisted that we take a couple of moments to get changed. I was hell bent on not wearing a pair of shells to cover my chest, so I had a bathing suit on. Honestly, I hated my figure for all the attention it got me. This time was no different. Fortunately, the white top looked like a halter top that cut off at about half way down my stomach. It had bird shaped outlines in a light blue flying around in no particular pattern.  
"Looking good," PJ laughed with a whistle. I was blushing like mad and ready to kill him.  
"Shut up Mutt. You'll probably be a dogfish in you merman form," I growled. I was attempting to cover what little I could with my wings. Water Song patted my shoulder.  
"Come on. You got a nice figure. You have to show it off once in a while," she snickered. I glared.  
"That's what my mom used to say. I'd rather trade bodies with Riku than stay in this suit," I grumbled as Water song returned to her sword form, "It's a damn good thing that you slice through water like it was the air." I could hear the faint whisper of her laughing. I sighed. Celeste was wearing her bikini top and swim-trunks from the party a few days earlier. She giggled at my self-consciousness. That just made me blush even more.  
"Alright, beam us down, Scotty," I said while rubbing the back of my neck. Only Celeste got the reference on that one. PJ just shrugged and beamed us into the water.

I opened my eyes slowly. The change wasn't even painful. That was a first for me, so it felt kind of weird. I looked around at my surroundings. I couldn't see anyone.  
"Alright, what do I look like?" I wondered out loud. I looked at my tail, swimming in circles just to see it better. It was a flying fish tail. Kind of appropriate, since I'm mostly a wind elemental. I noted that I had fin extensions running off of my arms. Fortunately, my top remained intact. My tail was white, with a light blue runic design running down on either side of me. Some of the ruins were on my arms and fins as well. Just as I turned to the left, I noticed something white in my hair. I tried to pull it out, but it was attached somehow. I looked at it carefully as I realized what it was.  
"Aina's beads? What am I doing wearing them?" I questioned quietly. Already, I was beginning to panic. Aina'Mîr was well known to some of my friends for the… assassination attempts on her. I just had to check one thing before I was one hundred percent sure. I pick up a large gem off the cavern floor and checked my face. I screamed at what I saw. That's when I noticed, not only did I have Aina's body in merform, but I had her voice too! My eyes had changed colour too. My left eye was green and my right was brown. Faint hints of Yuna's eye colour were already showing. Now I was desperate to find someone I knew. Knowing my now terrible luck, I was going to need all the help, and protection, I could get. The light arrows whizzing past my head gave me the speed needed to find said friends.

"_Celeste! PJ! Sora! Riku! Help me!_" I cried as I swam as fast as I could. I was amazed at how fast this form was. Then again, given what Aina had to go through… no wonder this form was fast. I continued to call out for them as I tried to lose my attackers. On a quick glance behind me told me that they were drow in merform.  
'Holy Shit! I'm going to die!' I thought, accidentally letting the thought loose to Celeste.  
'What? Where are you?' she called into my mind. I was shocked only for a second as I picked up my speed.  
'I don't know. In a cavern, somewh- Eep! Hurry! I'm running out of place to swim to!' I cried, just as I almost swam into a drow. I swam up and as far as I could.  
'Can't you attack or something? And I'm on my way,' Celeste thought to me.  
'I would, if I could. But I can't. No weapons or known powers make it hard to attack. A sudden change in appearance makes it even harder.'  
'Huh?'  
'I'll explain when you find me!' I swam into a small hole and wound up at a dead end.

"Now what am I going to do…?" I thought out loud as I looked around the cavern.  
"Vicki? That you?" Erin's voice floated into my ears.  
"Erin! Where are you?" I called frantically. A guppy swam up to my face.  
"Not. One. Word." she growled. I wanted to snicker, but the drow were right behind me.  
"Don't worry, little elf. We won't harm you… much…" one of the drow sneered. I looked around for something to distract them with. Next thing you knew, I threw Erin at them screaming, "Fear my demonic guppy of death!". Needless to say, that looked weird.  
"Hey! Fight your own battles!" Erin yelled at me as she crashed into one of the drow with very little force. She didn't even push him back an inch. Erin simply bounced right off and sunk a bit, swirls in her eyes. The drow just started to laugh at me and Erin.  
"That puny thing? That's a demon? Are you sane?" one of them roared. Erin quickly snapped back to attention and glared at them. I felt Erin's evil aura rise. She was pissed. Erin's body began to morph itself before my eyes, causing an alarm to go off in my mind. A quick scan of her memories told me it was really her. I sighed with relief. To say the least, in her mermaid form, Erin was beautiful and scary. Her now black hair reached the middle of her back. She had blood red eyes, and the markings on her tail were highly detailed. The red streaks in her hair were a bit of an oddity though. It didn't really do any justice to this form, other than to emphasize the fact that she was a demon. Much different from the black and red striped guppy she used to be. Even in a merform, she towered over me. I stayed back as she went berserk on them.

"Look out!" I heard Celeste cry as she entered the area. I suddenly felt a knife against my neck. I gasped, now too afraid to move. I didn't know the extent of my powers in this form. My breathing was ragged. My entire body quivered. Erin's attention snapped back to me. I saw a little of my blood rise up in the water.  
'Oh shit,' I thought. A shark swam down and slammed me and the drow into a wall. I coughed up a little blood and sunk to the cavern floor. I watched as the shark ripped the drow apart then turn to me. I swam away for my life as it charged down at me. Little did I know, I was screaming as I swam away. The shark slammed me into the wall. I gasped for breath, clutching my chest. Just as the shark was about to rip me apart, Erin shot a blood red bolt of lightning through him. I breathed heavily as Erin shifted back to a guppy.  
"Are you okay?" Celeste asked as she swam up to me. She began to heal me right away.  
"Not really…" I answered in a shy voice. I flinched as pain rocketed up and down my body. I looked around for Erin. She was gone. I sighed. Great… now they'll never believe that I'm me. Just perfect.

"So, who are you?" PJ asked as he swam up to me. Ironically, I was right. He was a dogfish. I held back a fit of laughter.  
"It's me, Vicki," I responded. Celeste and PJ looked at me funny. "Just read my aura…" Celeste shrugged and looked into it. She gave off a sigh.  
"You don't feel like Vicki. Seriously, that won't work," she told me. I flinched. Oh crap. That's not good.  
"B-but how? I'm in the same top and everything! Unless… unless Aina… that would explain the drow… hm…" I scrambled to find an explanation. Celeste began to snicker. I read her mind and grumbled. "Thanks a lot… you know PJ probably would have killed me for that 'joke' of yours."  
"You should have seen your face!" Celeste burst into laughter. I noticed a small cut that hadn't healed over yet. This was the perfect chance to test out my new body. All I was going to try was a simple healing spell. I whispered 'cure' and held my hand over my wound. Nothing. I tried focusing healing energy to it. Nothing. A mix of both should have worked. Nope. Nadda. Zero. And for good measure, zip, zill, and _denied_.  
"That was still not something you should do. I'm in enough danger as it is, with the drow hunting me and all. I just got lucky finding-" I began.  
"Why are those drow mermaids after anyways?" PJ demanded, completely cutting me off. I glared for a second, and then sighed.  
"Because of my form. They think that I'm an elf cleric that is suspected of being a half elf. They want to kill her because being of elf and human origin is forbidden where they come from. They already killed her parents. And now, in order to collect the reward, they just need to kill said cleric. I'll be going under the name of Aina'Mîr for now despite this, Aina for short. Right now, I'm also powerless, except for my telepathy, so, unfortunately, I'm going to need to be watched 24/7. Until I can fight for myself, that is," I explained. I gave off a sigh to let them know that I was done.  
"When will that be?" Celeste asked. I shrugged.  
"Who knows? I don't even know what happened to Water Song. Because I changed forms, she probably did too. And who knows what she is now… probably a rod, now that I think about it… no jokes Erin," I said as Erin reappeared again behind me.  
"Aw… ruin my fun," she snickered sending out a demonic black and red stream of fire over my head into a heartless. I took that opportunity to attempt to cast a spell on Erin to keep her with me. A magical leash, if you will. I looked back and noticed that it worked. She was trying to leave, but it wasn't working. The spell simply wouldn't let her leave my side, or harm me, for now.  
"At least that worked," I snickered. Erin just glared at me.  
"We should probably find Riku and Sora," Celeste suggested, trying very hard not to laugh at the poor demonic guppy. PJ nodded with a grin. I grabbed Erin and swam after them.

"Oh crap! I just realized Aina can't swim!" I cried after a couple minutes. Of course, I'd only realize this now. I was starting to panic  
"But you're doing it right now…" Erin pointed out. I stopped.  
"Oh right… mermaid…" I sighed. Celeste and PJ burst into laughter, much to my embarrassment. I just started to swim away, finally letting go of Erin. A shiver went down my spine, causing me to swim back to Celeste and PJ and hide behind PJ.  
"Not a word, Pajashok," I grumbled in a scared tone. He just chuckled and pulled out a sword. I noted the irony of that moment. He had a sword, and my sword was probably still on the ship. Why did everyone else have a weapon but me? Erin swam up to me. The three of them created a protective circle around me. My shivering had become more violent. Whatever I was sensing, it was getting closer. A bolt of light shot right by my head. Drow. Of course… I cowardly tried to bolt for it, but was soon pulled back down and held by Erin. I was shivering in the demonic mermaid's arms as she defended me. Celeste had Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu out already. PJ was letting the drow get close before slicing them in half. Celeste was sucking out their souls only a couple moments before death, except for the ones Erin killed. She simply couldn't get to those ones fast enough. I stopped shivering once the attacking drow were all dead.  
"Seems like you got Aina's aura sensing ability," Erin stated. I nodded as she returned to guppy form. I hugged her for a second and swam off with Celeste and PJ to find Riku and Sora. Along the way, I picked up a few stray thoughts, even though I had my mental walls up.

'_She will work perfectly for our plan… Finally, revenge will be mine… and I will have Wesker's pet project under _my_ control, and no one will be able to find her…_'

I shivered violently at this. I couldn't tell who the voice was talking about. It could be Erin, Celeste, or me. Out of all of us, Erin was the most likely target. After all, she's a spy for us. But then again… I shook my head as I thought about it. I knew it couldn't possibly be all about me. Celeste was in this with me. And Erin was with us too. Celeste had a lot going for her, and Erin was pretty much invincible. I honestly felt over-powered sometimes too, but that's not my point. I decided to leave it for later.

'_That spy in the group better be doing her job._'

I stopped for a moment. I could sense the worry between the group. I just stared at Erin for a second. She was back in her mermaid form, trying to calm me down. I couldn't even hear her. All I heard was the sound of my own heart beat. Time itself seemed to slow down. I looked down at my shaking hand. It was so pale, I could see my veins. All of a sudden, I blacked out.

I woke up hours later. I sat up and bumped my head on something. I recoiled instantly, rubbing my sore head. The place I was in was dark. I felt the ground and ceiling. Two completely different textures. The ground was almost like a cushion, but the ceiling was as hard as a rock. I wanted to scream for help, but I wasn't sure if anyone would hear me. I was genuinely useless in this situation. I lay back down and curled up as I thought about what to do next. That's when I realized I was in a clam. Protection was the most likely reason I was here, so I reluctantly waited until it opened. I was too used to the action, rather than sitting on the sidelines. I sighed to myself and went to sleep for a little while longer.

I was woken up later by a couple of knocks on the shell. The clam slowly began to open up. I looked up and covered my eyes. The sudden light wasn't good for me. I was pulled up lightly against someone's chest. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light again. As I looked up, I could see that it was PJ holding onto me.  
"That's _her_?" Sora cried in disbelief. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the pair of figures before me. Sora and Riku were floating there. Riku's tail was a dolphin, just like Sora. It was kind of funny that way. I tiredly looked over at Erin and Celeste. I was getting suspicious of Erin, not that I wanted to. A spy…? No one was close enough to our enemies to be anyone else. I didn't want to tell Celeste, but I knew I should. I decided to tell her once I knew the truth. I hadn't been truly paying attention to what was said until that decision was made.  
"So… she's absolutely useless to us now, right?" Riku commented. I glared tiredly at him.  
"I have Erin and you guys to defend me," I growled. It didn't come across right, since Aina can't growl. It was more of a purr than a growl. But at least I had the right expression… I think…  
"The guppy? Oh yeah, she'll do some real damage… you'd be better off smacking them with your fins!" Riku roared. Erin glowed with evil intent for a second. Erin grinned widely, then bit Riku's arm. It was now that I noticed her shark teeth. I flinched, knowing that it was probably going to scar. Riku, on the other hand, was now screaming in pain. Although Celeste was healing him, I think she also thought he deserved it.  
"Lesson learned. Don't mess of the demon guppy," I chuckled as Erin returned to me, grumbling. I slipped out of PJ's grip and held onto Erin, making sure not to crush her.  
"Anyways, we should get going to Atlantica Castle. _Before_ the sharks arrive," I said in a much more serious tone.  
"Don't forget the drow, Aina. And try not to get distracted along the way," Erin snickered with a grin.  
"I will not make any promises on that one, Rin," I laughed nervously.

It took us a while, thanks to the drow ambushes. As we got we finally got to the castle, I noticed that a walrus, penguin, and a mermaid go inside.  
"I think I already know where that one's headed," Erin mumbled to me. I nodded. Everyone else just stared at us.  
"We just have to hurry," Erin explained. I sped up, letting go of Erin. We swam into the castle gates. Atlantica was beautiful. It was almost exactly like it was in the movies. We were stopped by the guards just before coming to the throne room.  
"who are you, and why are you here?" one of them asked. I swam forward.  
"My name is Aina'Mîr Árerana. My friends and I came here to speak with His Majesty King Triton about an important matter. We cannot take no for an answer, due to the severe danger it puts all of the seas in," I explained. The guards looked at each other and denied us access.  
"Let them in. Daddy will be happy to see Sora again," Ariel giggled softly behind us, "Besides, they might be able to help us find Melody." And with that, we swam into King Triton's throne room. Hopefully, this wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.


	42. Chapter 42

As we swam further into the palace I tried to keep my thoughts to myself as I tried to figure things out. First of all, what are the chances Vicki would come out looking like that while the drow are by some unknown force searching in this particular world? I didn't end up that different from my normal appearance. I just had a long black tail with all the fins tipped in white in a sort of feathery pattern. And why were Vicki's powers null and void all or a sudden? Something seemed off about someone's aura too and I couldn't tell right off the bat because of one thing. The water; it completely fuzzed up my view of the auras. I knew Vicki was Vicki because of certain factors like I was sure the enemy didn't know about Aina'Mîr, and the real one wouldn't claim they were someone else. Something was too off and I was starting to resent the water that fogged up my vision so.

"Hey, that's the mermaid and the two from earlier." Sora yelled as we entered the throne room as the three spun around in shock. I sat back wondering how our meddling was going to affect the outcome of this story.

"Melody!" Ariel shouted as we all entered fully.

"Mom? You're a mermaid?" I tuned out as I thought of other things. I was trying to read everyone's auras, but I still couldn't get them for the life of me. I could sort of make out a few, just enough to know they're there, but there was also one that seemed off.

"Melody! Come back!" I snapped out of my thoughts as the trio swam past me.

"Celeste! You could have caught them!" I blinked in response as Sora swam up to me, waving his arms.

"It's probably better this way." I said as I thought about how the story would normally go. "But we should probably tell Ariel's dad."

"Tell me what?" I looked behind me and quickly swam behind P.J.

"Well..."

After telling him what happened, he decided to send our little group out to go find them. Seeing as we knew where she was going, all we had to do was get there and getting rid of any drow that got in our way.

"Judging by how far it is, it'll still take us a couple days, regardless if we see them or not. And seeing as we keep getting held up by drow, we might not make it there right away." P.J. sighed as we kept going. I only nodded as I tried as hard as I could to try to heighten my senses. Suddenly I picked up a weird aura coming from a bit away. But even though I couldn't read properly it still felt familiar. I started to swim away from the group as I went to explore the source of the presence.

"Celeste, stay with us." Riku snapped as I continued to swim.

"I'll be back in a minute. I can still sense where your general area is." I mumbled as I kept going.

"What if you're attacked?" I kept swimming in a trance, away from the group.

"I'm hungry." I mumbled as I swam out of sight.

I kept swimming a bit more as I heard a voice. The closer I got the louder it was till I could make it out. I froze in my tracks.

"Roxy?" I half yelled to see if she could hear me. I continued around the corner till I saw her in plain sight. "Roxy!" I shouted as I swam at her and hugged her as hard as I could.

"Celeste?" I nodded as she hugged me back.

"Celeste! It's been almost a year. I've been jumping worlds looking for answers. I can't believe you're alive!" I smiled as I caught a look at her tail. It was black with the webbings in the ends and sides purple, also with spikes going from the bottom of her tail to the middle of her back. Her eyes were the same grey colour but her blond hair now had streaks in it which totally made her hair look way different.

"You a dragoness?" I saw her smile brightly.

"Yep! You're not human either I'm guessing?" I smiled as I finally looked her closely in the eyes so she could see mine. "Death Angel? Sweet!" I giggled as I grabbed her hand.

"Common Vicki, Erin, P.J., Sora, and Riku are here too! I'll explain everything as we go!" I said really fast with a big grin on my face as I swam as fast as I could to the others. In all honesty, I hadn't been this happy forever. Roxy and I had been each other's first real friends in school when I met her in 6th grade, her in 5th. And we had been inseparable since. I had never been sad when she was around. Before we knew it, we finally caught up to the rest of the group. After a bit of confusion from Roxy regarding Vicki and a glomp episode from Vicki, Erin, and Roxy, I noticed something off about Vicki. She seemed like she was suspicious of Roxy.

Vicki, what's wrong?

Something doesn't seem right, what if she's a spy?

Why would she be? I recognized her right away, and I had a weird sense of an impostor in our midst before she showed up. I growled. I felt kind of bad I was being unruly but anyone else would be in my situation.

I'm not a spy, ask me anything about me and I can answer it. This caught both of us off guard.

See? I said as Vicki started talking to me telepathically.

_'I'm still suspicious. After all this, to have her suddenly pop up out of no where... It's kind of odd.'_ I nodded in response.

_'Not much we can do now. We'll have to wait and see. If it is the impostor, we'll be able to handle it.' _I murmured the last part. "Anyway, we got a lot of ground to cover!" I stated as we all followed Ariel.

"Oh remember when we swallowed all that helium from the balloons we took from the furniture store!" I laughed as we were swimming along towards Morgana's. I could sense Vicki was still greatly on edge about the whole thing, but her position as of now wasn't the best either. I mean, she's suspecting Roxy, while she doesn't even look the same anymore. And having all these drow on our ass? Plus her powers aren't working. In my opinion she seemed more suspicious. But only time would tell.

"And Gimpy!" I snapped back to reality just as she said that and started to laugh again. Even if my mind was elsewhere while we were talking, I don't think I ever stopped smiling.

"I don't think I've seen her smile this much for a while." I heard P.J. mumble from behind me. I didn't even slow as I thought about it. This was probably a good thing I guess.

"Potatoes." I mumbled smiling at Roxy.

"Pickles." She grinned back. It was then I noticed she still had her braces too. "I wonder if we're gunna get our braces off soon." P.J. chuckled with Roxy and I.

"So we're gunna fight Morgana?" I shook my head.

"We can't meddle too much with the world order." Riku spoke up swimming next to us. I jumped back.

"Whachu!" I bumped into Roxy and started laughing. My laugh caught on to everyone else including Ariel who had seemed down the whole time. "Don't sneak up on me!" And with that I swam forward. "Common Roxy let's go." I said as I swam up to go with Ariel.

"Actually we should sleep for the night." I made a dead pan look as we all got ready to sleep in a cave nearby.

_I sat on the same island under the apple tree as before. The ocean breeze swept over me. I started to swing my legs over the side as I heard someone walk up to me followed by the wolf that went right up and laid down beside me, resting it's head on my lap._

_'So what do I need to know now?' I said not looking at the figure._

_'Basically as you already know, there is an impostor. Morgana is also after someone to take under her control.' I shook uncontrollably. 'And from what our Intel has gathered with connections to their other halves, we also know Wesker plans to kill you to get to Vicki." I almost forgot to breath._

_'Why does he want me dead? Is he going to attack me?' The wolf started to lick my hand calming me down a bit. I looked at the visitor and was surprised to see Tounasu._

_'Basically he wants you dead because your powers will get in the way of his goal unless he can control you. He doesn't have any idea how to do that right now so he's gunna wait till you die.' I raised an eyebrow._

_'Wait till I die? As far as I know, I have a lifespan way longer than his.' She looked at me sadly and I got uncomfortable._

_'Your ability to create hearts is dragging you into darkness. You can't just take the souls and create a heart, there has to be at least a part of a heart to grow within it to absorb the souls that make the heart. In short, you're losing your heart to darkness to bring others to life.' I fingered my necklace. 'The necklace can only take so much too. The heart you took will eventually disappear, since it was a heart taken from the darkness that wasn't released by the keyblade. If I were you, I'd get your keybearer friend to release it from the nobody before he falls into darkness again. He's probably starting to lose it already.' I looked at her in the eyes about to cry._

_'I thought I could make everything better. But I'm destroying myself in the process. What will happen to me? Will I become a nobody? A heartless? Or something else since my heart's falling to pieces?' I buried my face into the wolf's fur. I almost jumped back as I smelt its fur. It smelt like my home._

_'We don't know for sure. We can only wait and see.' It sounded like she regretted those words. The green haired woman lowered down and hugged me._

_'Could you tell Vicki in her dream for me too Tounasu? I don't want to cry in front of her.' I felt her head nod._

_'Oh something I've been meaning to tell you. You weren't sent to Earth as a baby like Yuffie said.' I raised my head with a wtf look. 'What?'_

_'I don't know all the details, but I was talking to P.J. and he said you showed up with Vicki in the arms of some elf female asleep and she said she altered you memories to keep you safe till the time came. The repressed memories might start to pop up in both of you. Just so you don't get confused.'_

_'Why did P.J. keep it a secret?' She shook her head. 'Cause he didn't think it would help. He didn't know where you came from until he read a book about it. He still doesn't know where your world is. He's been looking since you first showed up. He's been looking out for you since the start, trust me.' I smiled into the fur._

_'Anything else?' I asked. 'Just remember to keep your light strong.' And with that the world faded into darkness.'_

I got up as everyone else started to stir. I swam over to Roxy who was still out like a log and grinned.

"Roxy wake up you're underwater!" I shouted as she woke up, for once, quickly. Then as she fully looked up at me started at me and started laughing.

"Anyway, let's head out." Erin chuckled as we continued. I quickly did a head count. So far, the impostor hasn't made a move, but for how long? I pondered this as we picked up where we left off yesterday.


	43. Chapter 43

We headed out as soon as possible. Although I was still a little suspicious of Roxy, I told her to call me Aina until I got my real body back. As we swam on, I could just barely hear Erin mumbling to herself. I had picked up choice words, like "beast", "angel", and "dragon". Now I was getting nervous. She stopped the moment my ear twitched at the word "key". It seemed like "key" was the special word. I now knew that I had to keep my eye on everybody. If one of the people I trust most can't tell me something, why should I trust them anymore? Besides, Erin was away from us a lot, and she was acting odd lately. Well, odd for her. Abnormality was in the base construct of her personality.

"Aina… are you okay?" Erin asked. I looked at her softly.  
"Yes, Rin. I'm just worried about-" I was cut off by an arrow to the shoulder. I screamed in pain and PJ held me, soon ripping the arrow out. I let out another scream before PJ covered my mouth and wound. I whimpered from the amount of pain I was in as the rest of the group tried to find the drow. I slowly focused on trying to sense where they were. I panicked as I felt them all around us.  
'Wait, how am I suddenly able to start using Aina's powers?' I thought to Erin and Celeste. Celeste summoned Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu.  
'Good question,' Celeste thought back.  
'Let's just focus on the drow for now and worry about the powers later,' Erin sighed. I gave her a nod as she transformed into her mermaid form. I only notice this now, but she had shark bones running down the back of her tail. I shuddered as they approached us slowly, as if they were a pack of wolves. PJ swam closer to the ocean floor with me, who was now holding me around the waist. He set me down carefully as Roxy and Celeste bolted in the same direction to kill of some drow.

"Are you okay?" PJ asked.  
"No, not really," I whimpered. He covered my wound in seaweed, seeing as there was pretty much nothing else around.  
"Stay here then," he ordered. I nodded as he left me in the forest of seaweed. I curled up on the floor to make it harder to see me.  
'Why did it have to be Aina? Why, of all my characters, did I turn into the half elf? The half elf, with a bounty on her head, created by her own grandfather. F my life,' I mumbled to myself. I held the seaweed in place as I tried to focus on everyone else. From what I could tell telepathically, Erin was the only one close by. I knew I was safe for the time being, seeing as if she would take me away, she'd be stealthy about it. I yawned and tried to get some rest.

_I woke up on Besaid Island's coast line. I frantically looked around and noticed it was completely demolished. Even the temple was gone. Someone stood in the middle of the ruins. I walked towards that person slowly. With a quick glance at myself, I noticed that I was still in Aina's form. Fortunately, I had legs this time. As I got closer, I could see the faint hints of paladin armour. Could this man be who I think it is?  
"Xavier?" I asked quietly. The figure turned towards me. It wasn't the paladin at all. In fact, it was a drow disguised as him. I backed off as he grinned.  
"So nice to see you again, Lady Aina'Mîr…" the drow sneered. I had an instant "oh shit" moment and ran. All I could do was run. I couldn't even think of anywhere to go. The moment I reached the beach, something caught my legs and tripped me. I flipped my body around, landing on my back. I tried to struggle or pull the bola off of my ankles, but they were transformed into chains. I quickly descended into panic.  
'I'm going to die… I'm actually going to die,' I thought as the drow came closer to me. As if out of nowhere, my ancestor and Ashikanarou tackled the drow to the ground.  
"Get her out of here! I'll hold him off!" Ash yelled. The Hiren'Faroth nodded and nuzzled into the sand, pulling me over his shoulder. I fixed my position before he took off._

"_Are you alright, kit?" he asked. I whimpered and shook my head. He stopped inside an old cave. I slid to the floor and cried.  
"Why me, ancestor? Why do I have to be the only one to change form and get nearly killed?" he nuzzled my hurt shoulder.  
"Because subconsciously, you were the only one thinking about another person when you "beamed down"." I sighed.  
"Okay, I'll bite… why was I thinking about her?"  
"That is what I would like to know, kit. There is also the fact that you two are very much alike." I sighed again. He nuzzled my shoulder again. "Expect a visit from someone soon. It's time to wake up now." I nodded. I could hear the drow coming for me just as everything went blank._

I woke up screaming. I was still in the seaweed forest. From what I could hear, the battle was still raging. I went to peek out of the forest quietly, but was pulled back immediately. The person held my arms over my chest and covered my mouth. I squirmed desperately.  
"Shush. I'm saving your ass, Babe," the person whispered. I relaxed, quickly recognizing the person as Erin. I mumbled into her hand.  
'Did you really have to restrain me?' I demanded telepathically.  
'Yes, or you would have hit me,' she growled, 'Now stop moving, unless you want to be killed.' I sighed into her hand and let my body go limp. I could see figures swimming above us, but just barely. Erin brought me to the floor again and motioned I stay. Reluctantly, I nodded. All I could hear was fighting. Screams of pain, war cries, shouts of terror, weapons clashing, people dying… it was all there. I whimpered again. Now that I was on the sidelines of a battle I would have gladly taken part in, I began to realize something. I'm not meant to kill for a living, slowly becoming a monster. No, if I did that, I would become like that drow in my dream. Killing innocents for fun and so I could put food on the table. Just before I could send myself into a breakdown at this revelation, someone pulled me out of the seaweed forest. I struggled upon instinct and smacked the person in the gut. I didn't even look back as I swam away, letting go of the spell that bound Erin to me and binding her to someone else.

It had been hours before I stopped. Unfortunately, I found out that my spell on Erin required me to be _around_ Erin to not wear off. I swam into a sunken ship and looked for the captain's quarters. I stayed in the bed there to rest and cry. I already knew I shouldn't have struck out on my own. Doing that is highly dangerous to my well being. However, at this point, I didn't really care. Now, I just wanted to be left alone. I curled up into a ball, imagining the most protective person I could think of to protect me from what goes bump in the night.

_I was sitting in a tree. I looked myself over and noticed I was still Aina. Same form as my last dream. The only difference being the fact that my ankles were chained to said tree. I sighed as I jumped down. I landed softly on the balls of my feet. I walked maybe a good five feet before my chains tugged me back. I sighed in annoyance. I picked up a senbon off the ground. I sat down and began to pick at the locks. A couple of minutes later, I was free and running. Birds all around me squawked the moment I got both anklets off. I hid myself in a cave. A white wolf, maybe six feet at the shoulders, walked up to me. I backed away until I had no place to go. To my surprise, he licked my face. I finally noticed the collar around his neck. The tag attached to it read Snowclaw.  
"Snowclaw…?" I whispered. The wolf licked my cheek again. I giggled and hugged the wolf. Snowclaw laid down for me to get on his back, to which I obliged. He stood up and ran out of the cave, carrying me far away from the forests. He came to a halt in front of a village surrounded by a large gate. The wolf howled and the gate opened. I nuzzled into the wolf's fur as he walked inside._

"_I told you he would find her," Ashikanarou said proudly.  
"You just didn't want to go get her. Some angel you are," Dwayne grumbled. I flinched the moment I saw the blue dragon next to Ash. He noticed this and looked over at me.  
"Don't worry, I'm saving the pranks for another time," he yawned. I sighed with relief.  
"You're not my visitor, are you?" I asked as Snowclaw took me to a garden.  
"No, I just took her here," Dwayne replied with a shiver, "Which means I can leave now. Bye." He seemed to disintegrate as his presence left me.  
"Be careful around her," Ashikanarou warned.  
"I will, Ash," I chuckled lightly. Snowclaw shook a little as he entered the gardens. The air was getting a little colder, but not cold enough to kill off the plants in the garden._

"_Your subconscious has a bad habit of getting into trouble," a girl stated. She was leaning against a tree, a sickle in hand. There was some blood on it, meaning she must have killed off one of my demons or something. Snowclaw growled, only slightly, at the girl when she started to move towards us. I calmed him down slowly by petting his shoulder.  
"He's protective of me. Anyways, you needed to see me?" I said calmly. Giving her a good up and down look, I now knew she was Tounasu.  
"I'm going to make this short and sweet. There's an impostor amongst you. Morgana's also looking to take someone in your group under her control. And from what our intel has gathered, Wesker is going to wait until Celeste dies before he tries to take you," Tounasu sighed.  
"Okay, the impostor, I heard telepathically was a spy. Small difference. But if I'm right, the spy isn't going to do anything. Not yet anyways. And I already knew about Morgana's desire. You wouldn't happen to be able to shed some light on who it is, would you?" I replied. Tounasu shook her head.  
"Not a clue. Didn't know you picked up on that stuff either. When were you going to tell Celeste?" she asked. I felt the wave of guilt hit me.  
"When I knew who was spying on us. But you can't tell her that, okay? If it's where I hope it's going to go, it'll be harder to hear it from you than it would from me. But on the subject of Wesker, why is he waiting, when she'll live a hell of a lot longer? I've never known him to do something like that. In fact, the most I've heard about him is from Jill and Chris," I answered.  
"Wesker's waiting for her to die because she's loosing her heart," Tounasu explained. Based off her expression, she must have told Celeste first. I was just repeating the same questions. "Every time she makes a heart, her heart is divided a little to make the base of the heart."  
"So… every time she revives a Nobody, she dies a little?" I asked carefully. Tonasu nodded.  
"Sooner or later, she will become a heartless of a Nobody herself." She sighed.  
"But can't she just shut the ability off? Or would that kill her too?" Tounasu shrugged. I grumbled to myself._

"_But why would Wesker wait? He's not the patient type, and waiting will create potential treats. Is she too powerful for him or something? The only thing standing in the way of getting at me? And why the hell is this turning into a thing that revolves around me? I don't want to deal with this an-" Tonasu cut me off with a wave of her hand.  
"Quit acting like a spoiled brat. This is about Celeste as much as it's about you. And you're right. Celeste is the only person Wesker knows of that is standing in his way to get to you. Her powers are too strong for him, and he knows you would be an easier target if she died. You two have to work together. You're too weak on your own. That is why the drow have been ambushing you so much. You're a huge target, especially since that half elf you thought you made up is real, and you just happen to look like her. You picked the wrong thing to think about at the wrong time. They just happened to be looking for her here. I only found that out while trying to talk to you before. Also, Yuffie didn't tell you the truth about what happened when you were kids. An elf gave you to Pajashok after altering your memories until the time was right. You should start remembering a bunch of stuff soon. It will be a shock, considering how young you were, but that elf was onto something when she took you two away."  
"I'm guessing keeping it from us was to protect us? Or it would just make matters worse?"  
"Both."  
"Well, we're screwed now."  
"But Pajashok would have told you outside of your heads, which Wesker would have heard." I sighed. "It's time for you to wake up now."  
"See you another time, Tounasu."_

I woke up, still in the bed. I could hear everyone calling my name. Well, my fake name. Some had actually decided to yell "Lady Aina" at certain points. None of the voices belonged to Erin, which raised red flags in my mind. I swam out of the room, staying inside of the ship. At the moment, it was the safest place for me.  
'If I could just find Celeste, maybe we can find out who the spy is…' I thought to myself. Quietly, I swam lower into the ship. The voices were getting quieter. I decided to turn around when I heard a voice through a door. The door was slightly open. I peered inside, careful not to be seen.  
"Yes, I'm working at it. Just leave me alone… No, she suspects someone else all together…" Erin rubbed her temples. She seemed to be talking on her phone. I swore inwardly. I could only hear murmurs from the phone. I couldn't even pick out who it was. This wasn't looking for us good at all.  
"If I was failing, do you think I would be talking to you now?" There was a pause from both her and who ever she was talking to. I leaned in a little more as she swam away from sight. There was another short murmur before she swam into sight again. She was pacing.  
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll get to it." She rubbed her forehead, having a major headache, "And don't worry about her for the moment. She can't even sense who's who right now….. Yeah, I know. I'll report back anything else I find out." Erin hung up the phone with a sigh and made it disappear for now. I looked away from the door, confused. Something was way too familiar and wrong about this situation. It felt like the time in the original Arklay Mountains incident where Jill caught Barry talking to Wesker. All I could do was hope that it wasn't him she was talking to. I swam away from the door and opened it, trying to make it look like I caught the very end of the conversation so I wouldn't get myself into worse trouble.

"Vicki! There you are," she sighed as I entered the room. I looked a little nervous, and it was reflecting on her face.  
"Erin, I heard you talking on your phone. Who was it?" I asked in a very curious tone. She chuckled lightly.  
"Oh, I was just telling Squall what was going on. I thought I'd give him a head's up on the 'Aina' thing. Where were you?" she told me.  
"I was sleeping in the captain's quarters. Sorry I ran off… I was scared and I just woke up from a nightmare…" Erin shushed me and held me close.  
"Don't worry, I'm not mad. PJ might be, but you should have stuck around. You have to be around them in order for them to protect you," she sighed. She was already trying to fade into the darkness of the room.  
"Them? Oh no. you're not going anywhere. Unlike Jill, I'm not letting you go off on your own," I said as I bound her to me again. Erin just sighed.  
"I just need some time alone, kay?" she grumbled. I shook my head.  
"Then have it while we're asleep. I-" I was cut off by Celeste as she burst into the room.

"Rin found her!" Celeste called. I turned around quickly, my expression changing to relief. Hers, however, was angry and concerned. I swam past her, ignoring the scolding I was getting from PJ along the way out of the ship. Erin simply reverted to her guppy form and followed me, not that she had much of a choice.

I was deadly silent for most of the trip. It was awkward being around Erin now. I knew she could beat us in a second, so I couldn't just tell the ones I actually trusted, since I know she would find out. Erin was smart too, and knew how to get under my skin. All she needed was the opportunity. The main question in my head was, if she's the spy, then why hasn't she taken Celeste and I away yet? Sure, Celeste was the one in the way of Wesker getting to me, but why hasn't Erin struck yet? She's bound to me right now… Maybe that's why. They would know it was her who took me. That, and here, I'm useless. I'm _way_ too easy prey for her. Knowing her characters, she'd probably act similar just to piss me off. All she was doing now was getting me paranoid. Or that could be the point. Paranoia until insanity. I shook my head, holding it like I was tired.

"Is something wrong?" Celeste asked.  
"I've just got a lot on my mind," I responded with a giggle.  
"Like?" she pressed, giving me her "tell me now" look.  
"Later. Okay?" I sighed. She nodded and sighed. Roxy seemed a little off from her normally hyper self. She was obviously concerned and confused of what was going on. Now that my suspicions were lifted from her, I could see her truth. She was a dragon in her true form. But other than that, she was still the hyper little Roxy I knew. I felt terrible for suspecting her to be the spy. I sighed and swam on, not even allowing myself to look back at Erin. What could I do now? One of my own best friends was now an enemy. I wanted to cry, kill something, punch a wall… anything that would make me feel a lot less like crap. I knew more than I was probably supposed to, and I'm already figuratively in hot water. I was pulled back suddenly. PJ sat me down in a cave. Everyone was settling down now. Celeste looked at me and I shook my head. It appeared that we were resting for the night. I curled up into a ball and waited for everyone to be asleep. By the time it was safe, I was the only one awake. I sighed inwardly.

I uncurled myself and swam over to Erin. This probably wasn't going to be the smartest idea I ever had, but hey, it can't be worse than disobeying myself twice, right?  
"Rin… I need to talk to you…" I said as cutely as I possibly could. She moaned as she woke up.  
"Did you have a nightmare again, Aina?" She mumbled as she shifted to her mermaid form.  
"No. I really need to talk to you, alone," I responded more seriously. She sat up, a tired and shocked expression on her face. I just stared at her flatly, before swimming away, tugging on the invisible leash. She shrugged as she followed me.

I had taken her a bit away from the rest of the group before I decided to give her a piece of my mind.  
"Okay. Who the hell are you working for?" I demanded. This shocked Erin even more. I placed my hands on my hips.  
"What are you talking about? Have you been smoking magical weed or something?" she chuckled lightly. I backhanded her right then.  
"Don't even try that! I may have only caught your half of the conversation, but I'm not going to brush it off and forget! You've been acting suspicious, talking to yourself, and that conversation you had on your phone back in the ship was unsettling, to say the least. Whose side are you on, Erin? Mine, or Wesker's?" I growled. I stunned her completely.  
"Vicki, isn't it obvious…? I'm on yours," she sighed. I slapped her again.  
"Then why the hell are you talking to Wesker? He's my enemy and is going to let Celeste die. Do you not remember what happens to me when someone close dies? I not only get depressed, but I get more violent. Why work with Wesker? Why did you betray us? Why did you betray me?" right after I finished, Erin clapped her hand over my mouth and pinned me against the wall with her magic. I struggled, attempting to scream for help. My voice couldn't even get past her hand.

"Shut up for a minute and listen to yourself. Do you honestly think I would hand you over to Mister Whiskers?" she hissed quietly, "By joining up with him, I've been keeping you two safe. Remember a few months ago when you first met Jill and all them? Who do you think was keeping Nemesis occupied until he fell through the floor? And I'll admit I wasn't able to help much in Shibusen, but I was at least able to hold off some of the witches from you. In Kanto, I kept Team Rocket as far away from you as possible until you guys could fight on your own. Of course, I've been helping behind the scene since then, like telling Chris and Francis to head to the castle, which you oh so kindly blew up. I had a ton of explaining to do for that one. At least you stood on your own two feet in the Soul Society. I've also been feeding Wesker mostly false information about you guys, which is why he's going to wait until Celeste dies. But no wonder you're in Aina's form. You would have been caught already if it weren't for me." I just sat there, absolutely stunned. I had no idea how big of a part Erin actually played. She let her hands drop, keeping me pinned against the wall.

"I had no idea…" I whispered, looking downwards. She sighed and patted my head.  
"Look, if I was able to tell you the truth sooner, you would be in even worse danger," she sighed.  
"But why me? It's not like the Beastial Elves are on Ramose anymore… why not take one of them?" My question came out a bit whinier than I wanted or needed, but at least it got the point across. Erin patted my shoulders and pulled my face up to hers tenderly.  
"You are the Key to Ramose, just like Celeste is the Key to Rahvme. PJ and I were supposed to protect you two until you were ready to return." I stared at her strangely.  
"Wait what? How can we be the keys to our worlds? That doesn't make any sense Erin…" She sighed to herself as her hand dropped to her side.  
"I'd tell you if I knew. But you know what? That half dragon didn't tell me anything other than, 'you'll know her when you see her'…" I stared off into space as I began to piece together what she had just said with all of the knowledge I had gathered.  
"That's weird… I was told by Tounasu that it was an elf that brought Celeste and I to earth." I muttered.  
"Well, technically, it was a half dragon. Her charge, a half elf, was the one who met with PJ." She rubbed the back of her head slowly.  
"… What are you getting…?" All of a sudden, it clicked. "So that's why the drow came here… They're not looking for Aina because she's suspected to be a half elf, are they?" Erin shook her head.  
"No. They're actually here to find Aina, you and Celeste. They're supposed to get Aina down and bring her back to New Spira, dead or alive. She hasn't returned yet because she's still looking for Xavier. And they're trying to keep you and Celeste as far away from your home worlds as possible, because you're still not ready. Even if it seems like it's almost completely about you right now, it's got a lot to do with Celeste too. Celeste's part just hasn't burst forth yet. But I can tell you that you need her to fight your enemies. Morganna never said why." Erin rubbed my cheek as I started to panic.  
"Morganna? _She's_ the half dragon who took us from our home world? And where's Aina? Why would she risk her life for us?" I knew how much trouble that half elf could get into on her own. She was a worse trouble magnet than Claire.  
"I don't know how she knew about you, but a promise was made that she couldn't break. Morganna just helped her keep that promise. Of course, me telling you all of this is already putting you in serious danger. So you have to do one thing for me, okay?" she sighed as she released me from the wall.  
"What is it?" My voice was soft with her. Considering her thoughtful tone of voice, she was probably going to ask me something that could tear me apart emotionally. And that's what worried me.  
"Absolutely do _not_ tell anyone, especially Celeste." Boy… was I right.  
"But I can't keep this from her! This is almost exactly what we need to know!" I held onto her shoulders, my eyes pleading for her not to make me do this. Erin's expression was serious, letting me know that I had to promise her.  
"Exactly my point. You can't just blab everything to her just yet. If you do, Wesker is going to find out that you know the truth and come after you sooner. And there is someone else altogether going after Celeste. I don't know who it is yet, but you have to be extremely cautious from now on. And don't wind up like Jill by tackling Wesker off a cliff, okay? That's my job." She chuckled lightly. I stared at her flatly.

"You're not Jill. I am," I said softly. Erin pulled me in close, causing a blush from me.  
"I know, Sweetheart," she whispered into my ear. A loud slap resounded as Celeste swam in on us. I was turned around, blushing like mad, with a bright red hand print on my face. Erin was just grinning at me.  
"What happened here?" PJ asked as he swam in, absolutely confused.  
"I think it's obvious. Watch," Erin snickered. She ruffled my hair and I went to slap her again. Instead, I hit myself again, this time on the other cheek. I glared up at her.  
"That hurt, Chris," I grumbled as she pulled me into a hug. Celeste just chuckled at us.  
"Whatta wha?" Roxy uttered as she swam in. I just looked at her and sighed.  
"Rin is just bothering me, that's all…" I explained as I struggled to get out of the hug.  
"Remember… don't tell anyone what I just told you," Erin whispered as she let me go. I paled instantly, due to the fact her breath was right on my shoulder. I squealed in fear and swam behind Celeste.  
"Quit it with the freaking-me-out stuff already!" I cried as Erin grinned at me. Her sharp shark-like teeth glimmered brightly, even this far underwater.  
"Anyways, we should get moving," PJ grumbled. He was only half awake. Seems my need for coffee rubbed off on him temporarily. I laughed in my head as we swam off.

A few hours later, we ran into a Japanese Fighting Fish. The tiny little red fish seemed to be running away from something. I caught it and turned around as another, much larger fish swam right on by. Once it was safe for the tiny thing, I held it out to Erin. It took us a couple of moments to realize who this fish really was. We burst out laughing.  
"Hey guys! We found Ada! Ada Wong!" I roared. Erin made a laughing face, causing me to go further into hysterics. All Ada was doing was glaring at us.  
"Isn't it bad enough that I'm a tiny fish?" she grumbled.  
"And she was being chased by a sucker fish," Erin snickered.  
"Cat fish," I corrected. Said cat fish swam up to us.

"Leon, I think this says something about you…" I giggled.  
"Leon's here?" Sora asked. I nodded.  
"But not the one you're thinking of. This is Leon S Kennedy, rookie cop turned government agent," Erin explained. I giggled again. Leon just glared at us with Ada. To be honest, they were not impressed by the fact that we were laughing at them for their useless forms. Erin started to hum something to 'Secret Agent Man' and started to chuckle.  
"Secret Agent Fish…" She muttered.  
I heard her muttered those words and bit my tongue. It was far too funny.

Everyone's good mood seemed too good to be true. Erin turned her head as a shadow caught her attention. "We have company…" The mood suddenly ruined when drow came out of nowhere.  
"Aina! Get out of here!" Roxy yelled. I wasted no time in complying. Accidentally dragging Erin along with me, I flew past most of the drow. One of them almost grabbed me. As a reflex, I slapped him with my tail fin. I swam around them, just trying to get out of their path. I looped left, right, up, down, but I still couldn't shake them. Looking at my for again, I remembered what type of mermaid I was, a flying fish. I felt a little stupid as that gave me an idea. I swam up at an angle and broke the surface. Just as I did that, I let Erin loose from the leash. I spread my fins, gliding about fifteen feet above the water's surface. I floated in the air long enough to see the little demonic guppy flip through the air, yelling that she was going to kill me for that. I sighed as I hit water again. I floated there long enough to fling some magic towards her, binding her to me again. I tugged on the invisible leash and brought her to my arms.  
"Did you really have to do that?" she coughed.  
"Yes. Gliding is faster," I explained as I took off again. I swam down to the ocean floor quickly. On my way down, I noticed two manta rays. I recognized them instantly as Cloak and Dagger. In fear for my life, I dropped Erin and released her from my spell as I went to hide in a sunken ship.

The drow were at every corner, grabbing for me. I was soon trapped in a room with nowhere to go. Now, I had no option but to fight for myself. The one drow I hoped would never find me in this form swam into the room. The drow from my dream was here to kill me. He swung his bola at me with a killer's intent. I grabbed the first object nearest to me and held it out in front of me, closing my eyes and hoping that it could protect me. To my surprise, I heard the weapon hit the ground. I opened my eyes and realized that I was holding a rod covered in red demonic markings, markings that could only belong to one person.

"Amadalia..." I whispered. I knew those markings could only belong to her. Was that why Erin was a shape shifting demonic guppy? Because that's what Amadalia would be, even as Aina's Aeon? Of course, that role play was an alternate reality to the Aina I was dealing with, but still… I shook my head as a different bola wrapped around me.  
"Distracted, my sweet little angel fish? Why don't you come see my hook," he hissed sadistically. I shuddered.  
"N-no!" I yelled as I began to back away. The rod began to glow on its own in fury. I released a strong burst of raw magical energy, throwing him back and the bola off. I swam as fast as I could to get out of there. As I swam out of the hole that sunk the ship, all of the drow hiding in the ship followed me out. I spun around and held the rod out in front of me.  
"Thunder!" I shouted. I honestly didn't expect it to work, much less hit all of them into a paralysis. I shrugged it off and swam away again. Now, I just had to watch out for Cloak and Dagger.

I swam into a series of caverns. They winded around in circles, like they were built to get you lost. I felt a dangerous threat, and picked up my pace. I swam deep into the cavern's tunnels. Quickly getting lost and paranoid, I knew I had to find a place to hide.  
'Anywhere would be good! A clam, a hole, another cavern! Just give me something!' I thought to myself. And there it was, a nice small hole in the wall. I struggled into it and waited. I heard a yawn. It was close by, but still seemingly distant.  
"About time you found me." It was Water Song's voice. I looked around for her and looked at the rod.  
"No jokes, elfy," she growled. I snickered quietly.  
"I'm glad to have you back and all, but we really need to be quiet right now…" I whispered.  
"Ah heh heh heh… too late for that," Water song chuckled nervously. Before I could utter another word, I was tugged back into a strangle hold. I coughed and gasped for air, accidentally dropping Water Song. I struggled uselessly against the person holding me. Cloak floated in front of me, watching, waiting. I coughed again. I managed to get enough air in my lungs to let out a scream for help, as useless as that was right now. Everything started to go black from there, Erin's haunting voice filling my ears.

I woke up hours later. The area I was in was too cold to be anywhere but Morgana's lair. I held the prison bars of ice that separated me from the rest of the lair. I could faintly hear Erin talking to the sea witch. Erin was not happy.  
"I told you I didn't need help to capture her! I just need you to keep her here until my transport comes!" she yelled. I honestly couldn't tell if Erin was on my side anymore. After all, she strangled me into a coma.  
"And what did you expect me to do? Just wait until you betrayed her in my home? By then, you would have led them all here, and you wouldn't be able to keep her in your lack of care," Morgana hissed. She did have a point, but I think that's what Erin was _trying_ to do. My ears drooped a little. Erin already had most of this planned out already, and all I could do was sit, stay, and not say a word of what she told me. It was already driving me insane. I wanted to tell Celeste everything, because then she might be able to fix this. There was no way in hell I was going to fix it. The best I could do was make it worse.  
"But she's not the elf Wesker is looking for. I need this one as bait for her," Erin growled. I flinched.  
'I'm bait…?' I thought, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.  
"Yes, but his little pet is nowhere to be found. I triple checked. They didn't come with her at all," Morgana sighed.  
"Then check again. If she's not in the sea, she's on land. Aina'Mîr is only good to me if Victoria knows that she's here and in danger. Find her or his _other_ pet will be let loose," Erin hissed. Well, that made sense. Apparently, I'm the real Aina for now. Crap. That's never good. On top of that, Nemesis will be here any minute now, unless Aina stole my form. I looked across the hall and noticed Water Song was encased in ice. I sighed inwardly. I turned around and swam to the back of my tiny cell. Why was everything so little here?

"So you are awake, M'lady," Erin sneered. I shuddered and turned to see her opening the cell. She shot her hand out and pinned me against the wall. Part of her magic covered my mouth as I attempted to scream. She swam up to me, stopping only when she was close enough to whisper in my ear.  
"Just continue pretending you're Aina, okay?" She caressed my face, as if she was hitting on me. I turned away, showing that this was unwanted attention. She grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look her in the eye. I whimpered in fear.  
"Do as I say, and you'll lock this world faster. Nemesis will come, whether we want him to or not. So just sit tight and struggle, okay?" she hissed quietly. I nodded slowly as she left me like that and left the cell. Of course, it would be this moment that Melody would appear to give Morgana the trident.

"Oh there you are darling! Oh, I was so worried about you. And look! You brought back my trident… Clever girl..." Morgana's voice was sickening. I shuddered as Melody was urged to hand over the trident. "Forgive him dear, he's got a little size issue." I struggled and shouted as much as I could.  
"Is someone else here?" Melody asked.  
"Oh, it's just a little mermaid who needs some help with her vocal chords. Now, if you just hand over the-" Morgana was interrupted by a certain mermaid queen.  
"Melody don't!" Ariel shouted. From the sounds of it, she only had Flounder with her.  
"Mom!" Melody cried.  
"Don't listen to her! I-" The two of them stared at each other for a moment.  
"You're a mermaid…?" they asked at the same time. I tuned out the rest of the conversation, just listening to Erin sigh.  
"Melody, no!" Ariel called, bringing me back to reality. Morgana laughed maniacally, as she gripped the trident.  
"All the power of the Seven Seas is mine! Not bad!" she declared. I just groaned as my bindings were released.  
'Okay, I've got only a few seconds to escape,' I though as I swam up to the bars. I watched Morgana take Ariel and explain the truth to Melody. Erin gave me a sign to stay in the cell. I grumbled to myself a little.  
"Tell me, Melody, is being a mermaid everything you dreamed? Was it worth it?" Morgana taunted as she threw Melody into my cell. Melody hit the bars and crashed them open. I grabbed her, creating a cushion for her when we hit the wall.  
"Melody!" Flounder swam in to check up on her. Morgana created a wall of ice, trapping us in.  
"Morgana! Let us go!" I demanded as I swam up to the small hole.  
"Hm… I think not," she sneered, closing the hole, "Oh, and by the way, your time as mermaids is just about expired. Catch you later! I've got bigger fish to fry!" Morgana swam to the surface, taking Ariel with her. Erin had completely disappeared by now, probably to go tell Celeste.

"What did she mean by that?" Flounder wondered. It clicked right then.  
"We're returning to our original forms!" I cried, smacking against the ice wall. We did that for a couple of minutes before realizing it was useless.  
"Oh… I've ruined everything…" Melody sobbed as she sank to the floor. I went to comfort her.  
"You couldn't have known. You were lied to by that sea witch and your mother couldn't tell you because she was trying to protect you…" My voice leaked sympathy from the very personal experience Aina had. Melody just cried into my shoulder as I tried to think of another means of escape.


	44. Chapter 44

Something didn't seem right. As we were swimming the whole ocean seemed to get a darker aura to it and it didn't feel right.

"We're turning back human!" Sora shouted causing me to spin around and look, all our fins had the prints of our shoes beginning to appear. I panicked.

"At least we'll be clothed, but we need to get you guys outta the water!" I said frantically swimming up to the surface.

"What about you?" Riku asked as I got to the top seeing as I can't breathe air yet.

"You and Sora can't breathe water as humans, P.J. can shapeshift, I don't need to breath and Roxy... I don't know. I'm assuming she can hold her breath like Spyro since she's a dragon." I made everyone sweat drop.

"I can actually." Roxy giggled. I grinned sheepishly.

"Anyway, we need to at least get you on a boat so you don't drown." I looked behind them. "Or you can try to get to the island where Ariel lives. When you become humans again you could always fly there right?" I said as I squirmed a bit, feeling my tail split in two. Apparently, everyone else felt the same way.

"Sounds good, seeing as we don't have much time so we'll have to leave you two alone for the time being." P.J. stated as I saw him start to shift into a different type of mermaid.

"That's a little to convenient right now isn't it?" I smirked looking at P.J. He smirked right back. I looked at Roxy. "You might wanna transform into a dragon now." I said as she nodded. She backed up a bit as she started to transform. A black mist surrounded her as she increased in size. I looked up in amazement even though I saw this coming. She was 50 feet tall with jet black scales; the webbings on her wings and her belly were dark purple. Clashing beautifully with this, were her snow white horns and spikes. I looked into her red eyes, her yellow slits looking back. "Looking good, Raxxy!" I shouted as I started kicking my feet towards her, her large head surfaced as I touched the top too. Sora and Riku looked awe struck.

"You two start flying towards land; look for anyone that might help. Especially a half elf that looks like Vicki does now. We'll find you after, I promise." With that I jump onto Roxy's back and P.J. grabbed her spikes behind me. "Wish us luck." I saluted as we dove under. "Roxy you remember what happened in the story?" She shook her head. "Me neither."

We made great time as Roxy swam at incredible speeds towards our destination. Before we knew it we were upon Morganna. Apparently, she wasn't expecting a 50 foot dragon, but that didn't stop her. Roxy was thrown to the side as Morgana threw an ice pillar at us. P.J. and I fell off Roxy and P.J. changed into his wolf form and darted towards Morgana. She saw him just in time as she hit him with the trident and forced him under the water, in his current state he wasn't able to change into a marine animal.

"P.J.!" I shouted as I went to dive under. I was stopped just above.

"You're not getting away." I was thrown into the air and stabbed threw the stomach with ice and placed beside Morgana. "Maybe I'll give you to Wesker after all. You can't even fight." I winced as pain racked my body; I looked towards the water and couldn't see P.J. My eyes widened as I realized I couldn't see Roxy either. I started to cry as I let out a loud screech. It didn't sound like me at all either. Suddenly my body glowed and seemed to take on its own persona. The ice shattered. As I managed to just see Melody and Vicki emerge from the water.

_'What took so long?'_ I though as two wings popped out of my back, they weren't like mine either. One was black the other white and I started to talk to Morganna.

"Fool." _There's another voice? What's going on! Where's Roxy? P.J? _"Did you think you could have your own way that easily? You could toss us aside once you got your way?" I raised my arm and a burst of white light hit the Trident and went out of her grasp into mine. "You don't deserve this kind of power." With that I let go of the trident and it floated down to Tridon. It was then the light intensified and my stomach started to heal. I didn't even hear Tridon as I fainted and fell into the water.

_I was in the castle on the island from before and sitting near a statue on the main staircase. I looked on ahead. Why had I ended up so helpless? Why do I always leave myself open? What the hell happened to me when I was awake? I felt something soft brush against me and looked at the wolf waiting patiently to be pet._

_'Who did you bring to visit me this time?" I looked behind me to see Red. I quickly stood up and looked at the woman with the same eyes as me._

_"Hello master." I raised an eyebrow._

_"Master?"_

_"Well, you did create a lot of us." I stared wide eyed. _

_"You mean I created Rahvme?" She laughed._

_"No you created the people you made, the world had many more people in it. The ones you made coincidently are just the leaders. Shizara has hundreds of more reapers at her disposal, just like how we have hundreds of more warriors. You just created the most important, so to speak." I frowned._

_"Everything is so messed up. How could I create so many?"_

_"The same way I have Caroline and Shizara; your case is just a larger extent." I nodded._

_"What do I do?" How do I go back? Do you know if my family's there?" She smiled sadly._

_"Your family traveled to Ramose. I haven't seen them ever. I found this info out from a Diary your mother had." I snapped my head up._

_"Her diary? Do you know any names?" "Sadly no. We only know it's hers because she used your current name. Not even a trace of your original name, or theirs." _

_I felt like crying. Why am I so weak? I never cried infront of people if I could help it, as far as I can remember, besides family, I only cried infront of Roxy. I hated showing weakness. Now it seems like I'm about to break down at any moment. My thoughts suddenly changed. "Is Roxy and P.J safe?" I looked at her as she shook her head; the small part of my heart seemed to stop. I fell to my knees. "Why?" I whispered. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I was glad I wasn't awake; I never wanted anyone to see me cry like this. "All this time, I've been treating it like some stupid vacation. I don't even know how to fight properly. What am I doing?" I started to laugh dementedly. "What's wrong with me? Why am I so pathetic?" I laughed harder as the tears flowed faster. After a bit I finally started to calm down. Red was nowhere in sight._

_'I can't wait this long, I'll take matters into my own hands.' I froze in place. Wesker was here? 'So strong yet so breakable, why is it you're my biggest problem right now? I might as well take you out now, but I'm feeling generous. Either join me and use your powers for my purposes and give me the bestial elf, or I'll use my newly experimented heartless zombies to get you where you stand now. My eyes widened as I was suddenly surrounded by undead heartless, I could smell the mixture of darkness and rotting flesh and almost gagged. _

_"Where are you?" I shouted as I stood up and whipped away tears. "Why are you doing this?"_

_"Do you know what I could do with her DNA? I could make the ultimate weapon; no one would stand in my way! But then there's you. You are the only thing in my way, and I'm not a fan of complications." I growled._

_"Like I'd go with you. I have nothing to benefit from this deal. Nothing you say is believable."_

_"What if I said that dragoness you like so much would be left alone?" I hesitated for a moment as I closed my eyes. I shook my head._

_"This grows tiresome. Kill her." As the heartless jumped as me I closed my eyes and woke up._

I woke with a start as I jumped up and swung at the closest thing to me. P.J. quickly grabbed my fist.

"I see you're up." I scoffed and looked away. I realized we were on the Gummi ship. "What was the key?"

"Tridon's Trident." I smiled.

"Is Roxy okay too?" P.J. looked away. I shot out of bed quickly and got dizzy.

"It's not too bad thanks to her scales, but her side needs medical attention badly. And we've been trying our best to keep her alive; you need to see her now. I nodded as I ran out and towards the other room.

"Roxy..." I mumbled as I walked up to her form. She was breathing heavily and her bandages had blood soaked in them, without hesitation I went to work.

I sat in the cock pit watching the stars a couple days later with Roxy. After healing her, she was like new. "I wish we had the Wii to play with." I mumbled as we looked at a planet pass us by.

"I need to tell Vicki about my dream." I mumbled half heartedly. "Roxy you're in danger to now." She looked at me only half surprised. "Wesker entered my dream he said if I joined him, he'd keep you safe. Now he's after you because I wouldn't do it. I couldn't give Vicki to him, and now it's like I'm giving you to him instead." I hugged my knees. "I don't know what to do."

"It'll be okay." The smaller teen hugged me. "I can take care of myself too now; the ice thing was a fluke." We both laughed. "Too bad you weren't with us in Pallet town; we coulda looked for a hoothoot." We started laughing louder. I hugged my knees closer to my body.

"Cloud's usually at Radiant Garden; Layle too." Roxy had such a look of happiness I almost fell over laughing. "REALLY!" I figured, with her around, I might keep my sanity a little bit longer. My dignity however, was another story. And I could tell our return to Radiant Garden was going to be interesting.

I laughed with Roxy as we got out of the ship; she made herself look completely human as we got off for now by not releasing her wings and tail. As we got off Cid herded us all out so he could check the ship out in peace. We split up with Sora and Riku who were going to Destiny Islands for a couple days until we decided to head out again and Vicki and Erin went somewhere else. To me something was up, seeing as we also never found the spy and everyone's aura seemed like their normal ones. There was also the problem with the shape shifter and the fact I need some more experience with fighting, as much as I hated killing people and the fact I've been trying to eat other things besides humans, like the zombies, demons and witches I've had, I still knew I wouldn't have much more choice soon, as far as Wesker had anything to do with it.

"Where's Cloud Celeste?" I snapped out of my thoughts and laughed.

"Probably with Zack." I said as I started asking around. We found him a bit later in some kind of lunch room with Zack and Reno. He barely had time to think as Roxy used her dragon speed to glomp him off the table. I started laughing as I walked up to Zack and Reno, who seemed not so concerned anymore as I looked over the table to see Roxy comfortably sitting on the poor man's lap.

"Hey there. This is Roxy." I smiled sweetly as Cloud looked at the grinning form that was Roxy.

"Nice to meet you..." Cloud said as he looked confused as of what to do.

"Roxy, we still gotta see Layle." I giggled as she jumped up, waved to Cloud and followed me leaving the three men to figure out what just happened.

"I'm gunna have some explaining to do later..." I sighed lazily as we walked down another hall passing Sephiroth in the process. He glared at us as we walked by.

"There's another one of you? Just my luck." I growled as I took the defensive.

"I need to talk to you later. And think twice before insulting my friends, I won't hesitate to kill you." I growled as I stalked of, Roxy in tow. "Sorry, it's the only way to keep him in check." I grinned as we walked a bit farther to see Vaan.

"Hey Vann, have you seen Layle?" He huffed a bit.

"Yeah, he's been passing the time by throwing people around; I'm amazed no one's gone after him yet." I patted his shoulder.

"Sorry to hear that, where is he now?" I said as I could feel Roxy vibrating she was jumping so fast.

"Near the garden." And with that he walked off.

"Let's go!" Roxy said as she ran ahead. She suddenly stopped and looked at me. "Where is that?" I laughed as we ran down the many twists and turns towards the garden.

"Here we ar- AH!" I shouted as I was thrown into the air and landed in a tree. "Layle! I want you to meet somebody!" As he looked up to see it was me he threw, Roxy tackled him to the ground. "Meet your number one fan!" I shouted as I flew down from the trees.

"Hello there cutie." He said from his spot on the floor. "You always this forward?" I couldn't stop laughing as her face went red yet still grinned like a fangirl.

"I'm just a big fan!" I started laughing harder.

"Hey Roxy, you have anything from Earth on you?" She shook her head. I grinned, cause it just so happens I have my DS and a couple games Yuffie stuffed into my bag and-" I was hugged. "And we could probably buy more in certain worlds that are close to ours." I laughed out the last part. "So you have something to do while we're gone." She looked at me.

"I'm not going with you?" I smiled sadly.

"We need someone here, and since Erin's always this way and that she wouldn't be to fit for the job I have for you." Roxy looked at me as if to go on. "I need to look around for any information on where most likely Ramose is since Rahvme is in another dimension all together. Most likely, if we find Ramose, we'll find the way to Rahvme, and Wesker's other half will be there." I growled at the thought of the man.

"Okay. As long as I can keep contact." I smiled a bit as I remembered I'll probably need a cell phone that can get a signal from another world.

"I'll get a phone before we leave. Right now I'll show you the Library. I'll get you later so I can show you your room. I gotta talk to Vicki." I lead her to her room and sensed around for Vicki's aura reading. It helps that I've been around her so much. In no time at all I found her with Erin in what looked like another small meeting room.

"Vicki, can I talk to you in private?" I had gone completely serious and Erin and Vicki both looked at me like I did something bad, but didn't realize it.

"Uhh...Sure." Vicki whispered something to Erin before walking out with me. "What is it?"

"Wesker can find me in my dreams; he attacked me after the incident in Atlantica." Vicki went wide eyed.

"You've had weeks to tell me! He could have attacked again during that time! Why didn't you say anything?" I looked her in the eyes.

"I had more important things to look after." I said remembering the fact he threatened Roxy's well being. "He offered to keep me alive if I gave you to him, he said in return he'd leave Roxy alone. I turned him down but Roxy's a target now. That and he knows I'm weakest in my dreams. What are we going to do? This shows we don't have much more time to dilly dally." Vicki looked at me worried.

"I'll ask Erin. For now go see if you can find anything else out about Ramose." I nodded my head sadly as I walked out.' _Why can't I be part of the discussion?'_ I shook my head and sprinted to the library. So I had Wesker as an even bigger threat and I needed to get stronger. I quickly made up my mind and made a detour to find Sephiroth. I knew I was going to regret this. I found him a bit later in an open field a bit outside of the base.

"Must you always show up where you're not wanted?" He spat as I walked up to him.

"I came to apologize for my behavior and ask a favor." He looked at me with Malice.

"Why would I help you with anything?" I smirked at him.

"Cause if you don't I'll get even for the scar on my shoulder." He didn't seem impressed but his aura showed otherwise.

"What could you possibly want?" I bowed low.

"Please take me as your student and train me in combat." He looked at me as his aura showed surprise.

"Why'd you come to me?" I answered this quickly.

"I figured from my morphed version of your story you were the best of the best. So where else to start but the top?" He seemed to consider this.

"How long till you depart?" I thought for a moment.

"I think Cid said two months at most." He nodded.

"Meet me here tomorrow at 6am sharp." I nodded, saluted and flew back to the castle to find Roxy. I busted through the doors still flying and tackled her.

"I'm getting trained! I'll be able to fight!" I cheered happily. "But I have a request." She looked at me laughing but nodded. "I want to surprise Vicki so cover for me, when she asks where I am, think of an excuse, and don't let her out of the base okay?" She hugged me.

"I promise." Her stomach growled. "Can you show me the kitchen before the room?" I laughed as I lead her out to get a bite. Tomorrow seemed like it was going to be interesting.

"Have fun with Layle tomorrow too; don't let my secret ruin all your fun." I winked and she laughed harder as we flew down hallways as fast as small children that are sugar high. I thought about how I could get used to this since Roxy's around too now. All that's left is get a cell phone.


	45. Chapter 45

The trip back from Atlantica was tense and painful. I had been unconscious just a few moments after Melody and I "lost our fins". By the time I had emerged from the water, I woke up just in time to see Celeste fall into the water. I was about to jump in when another figure hit the water and bring her up. Rocky was shouting, and I was confused to see my proper body drop Celeste off in front of me. She kissed my forehead.  
"Do not fear, child. Just live," she told me, "Do not grow up as I did." And then, she just left me with a soaked Celeste and a still defrosting weapon.

I played with my hair on the way back. The beads were miraculously still there. It had been a couple hours since we got back onto the ship, and I wasn't shifting back yet. All of a sudden, Erin gave me a look of "Head to the back now". I flinched as it felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside out. After that, let's just say I spent most of the rest of the way back passed out.

When I woke back up, my body was back to normal, but the beads stayed in my hair. I looked in the mirror.  
"Well, that's new." My eyes now had a faint blue rim around them. To say the least, it was odd. I shrugged it off and headed for the helm. We were just touching down now. Both Roxy and Celeste were sleeping against each other, and Sora had decided to bother Riku the entire way back. PJ was flying at the helm, with Erin as copilot. I walked away from the scene. It hurt not to be able to tell Celeste anything of what I had learned. But now, I had to rely on her, Erin and Roxy even more. While I was thinking about what had happened, I realized what the woman who had my body meant. She meant "Don't be weak. Be stronger than your enemy" or something to that effect.

I walked out after we landed. I just wanted to be alone to think about my personal next move. I was conflicted with what I was told to do and what happened in that world. I paid no attention to anyone. Erin had been following me and pulled me into one of the smaller meeting rooms.  
"What's up Erin…?" I asked cautiously. She was serious. In my experience, serious Erin usually means bad things, mostly for me.  
"You need to calm down. I can practically hear your thoughts. And I'm not the telepath here," she said calmly. I looked at the ground.  
"I can't help it. I'm scared, I'm confused, and I sure as hell don't want to get Celeste into anything worse than-"  
"She's already in worse trouble now. She will explain that to you later. But for now, you have to keep what I told you away from her. Wesker will find out that you know, and more importantly, that _she_ knows. I just want to make sure that he finds out right when it's too late. He knows two things about you guys: he can use you to make the "Ultimate Bio Organic Weapon", and he can't get to your worlds without you _both_ to do it. But no one ever said he needed you two _alive_." I was about to say something when Celeste walked in.

"Vicki, can I talk to you in private?" she asked. She was strangely serious. I was seriously freaked out, but I let out a different expression of "What did you do now".  
"Uh… Sure." I looked up at Erin.  
"We'll continue this later. _Don't_ go anywhere, Guardian," I whispered to her.  
'Don't worry. I need to tell you a few things that you _can_ tell Celeste,' she thought to me as I walked away. I nodded and closed the door behind me.  
"What is it?" My facial expression had switched to concern. Celeste was far too serious for my liking. I really had to focus to not let her know that I was hiding something through my aura.  
"Wesker can find me in my dreams. He attacked me after the incident in Atlantica," she responded flatly. My eyes went wide with fear and anger.  
"You've had weeks to tell me! He could have attacked again during that time! Why didn't you say anything?" I scolded. I honestly felt like a hypocrite. I mean, I had told her everything up to this point, but now I had to keep a secret just to keep us safe. It was eating me up inside. Celeste looked into my worried eyes without expression, as if there was something else she had decided to keep from me. Not that I minded. I considered it karma.  
"I had more important things to look after. He offered to keep me alive if I gave you to him. He said in return, he'd leave Roxy alone. I turned him down, but Roxy's a target now. That and he knows I'm weakest in my dreams. What are we going to do? This shows we don't have much more time to dilly dally." My worried expression remained on my face. She just stared at me as if I would have an answer already prepared. I looked at the closed door.  
"I'll ask Erin. For now, go see if you can find anything else out about Ramose." I just had to get her away. I needed to tell Erin, if she didn't already know. Celeste nodded her head sadly as she walked away.  
"I'm sorry, but this is just to protect us…" I whispered as quietly as possible, watching her walk away before heading back into the room.

When I walked in, it was extremely quiet and dark. I looked around cautiously, sniffing the air. Erin was the only scent I picked up. The demoness pulled me from behind against her. She covered my mouth and hushed me as I noticed someone coming. She pushed me under the table and motioned that I stay there. I shrunk my wings and tail into my back and curled up into a ball. Erin sat on top of the table, eating a piece of pizza very casually. That's when I noticed she had a different outfit that her normal one. It was the same jacket, but the rest was Devil May Cry 4 Dante. The person walked in and turned on the light.  
"Aw come on… I was just having a piece of pizza…" Erin groaned. She shoved the rest of it in her mouth. From what little I could see, it was Jill. The S.T.A.R.S. outfit told no lies. She walked around the table, as if searching for something, or someone.  
"Have you seen Vicki or Celeste?" She seemed very cautious on how she said that. My muscles coiled, ready to take off at any second. She didn't smell like Jill. I couldn't even catch the scent of Jill's t-virus antibodies. Those gave her a very specific scent that she couldn't cover, and this person didn't have even the most remote hint of that scent.  
"Well, you just missed Vicki. Went off to her room," Erin yawned casually, "And Celeste is who knows where. Probably with Roxy or something. Why? I can easily relay the message."  
"I'd rather do it myself. It's imperative that I speak with them. You should know this already, Rin. He doesn't want to play much longer." That gave it away instantly. Jill hated speaking formally. That and this person implied Wesker's involvement.  
"Well, they're not in this room," and Erin tossed her jacket on the table, covering my escape. I shot out of the room like a bullet. First place to go: my room. I wanted to get something else on. There was also the matter of my hair. It was time for a change. But that could wait until _after_ I found the real Jill.

I got into my room and switched into the mini skirt tube top combo. I left my sneakers on and pulled the white sweater around my waist. To say I was getting comfortable in this outfit was an understatement. I had actually grown to like it. I turned around as I tied Water Song's sheath around my sweater. On my way out, I bumped into Leon and Ada.  
"Sorry! Gotta go!" I called as I ran off.

A few halls later, I stumbled across some muffled groaning. I kicked the door open, forgetting that I had a mini skirt on. Fortunately for me, my leg was covering anything. I put it down and turned on the light. It was Chris, bound and covered with a lot of laundry. Now I had Aerith to worry about. For some very odd reason, only Aerith was allowed to do laundry. Mind you, that might explain why Sephiroth has a pink handkerchief. I shook the thought out of my head. I cut his ropes off after a quick memory check on Chris.  
"Where's Jill?" he demanded.  
"I was just about to ask you the same question," I sighed as I used the wind to move apart the laundry.  
"What do you take me for?" he growled.  
"A watermelon-armed zombie killer?" I snickered. He just stared at me. "What? Did my Chris already tell you about that one? It looks like you've got watermelons implanted into your arms, although I'm a little surprised that you didn't just break these ropes. Maybe all that meat just went to your head." He smirked. _Now_ he knew it was me. Only four people could tease him like this; me, Jill, Erin and Claire. I had never seen Celeste try. Jill's scent wafted into my nose. She was fairly close.  
"We've got no time to lose. Get up and help me get Jill, then beat up a shape shifter," I growled as I cut the last of his bindings. He got up and motioned me first. I chuckled as I ran after Jill's scent.

We burst into a closet and found Jill bound in a similar manner, but with a lot more rope. It was almost as if the shifter thought that Jill was the stronger of the two. But with her blindfolded and a piece of duct tape over her mouth, it was definite that it knew she was the more dangerous of the two. She was absolutely terrified as I knelt next to her. I placed my hand on her forehead and searched her memories. She had been attacked by the shifter posing as Chris.  
'It's smart. Made her drop her guard then attacked her,' I thought.  
"Jill. It's okay. It's just me and Vicki," Chris cooed softly. Jill just flinched as she struggled uselessly against her bonds.  
'Don't worry. I checked him out. The shifter's posing as you, to make Celeste and I drop our guards,' I explained telepathically. Jill nodded slowly as Chris removed her blindfold and duct tape. Jill gasped for breath and actually broke down crying. If Chris and I weren't pissed before, we definitely were now. It was hard to make Jill break down into tears out of fear. I hissed as my attention went straight to the door. It was only Aerith and Cloud. Aerith had the very tell-tale signs of having been bound. I relaxed and turned back to Jill. Chris had removed her ropes on her upper body, and now Jill had her arms around him as she struggled with the one on her legs.  
"Chris. Stay with Jill. The hunter just pissed off a better hunter," I growled as I moved past Aerith and Cloud. Did I mention that I hadn't had my coffee yet? No? Well, no coffee plus crying Jill equals something dying. Most of the time.

I walked aimlessly until the shifter finally found me.  
"Vicki! There you are!" the fake Jill called. I stared at her with a fake smile.  
"Hey Jill, where's Chris? He promised me a practice session when I came back," I said.  
"He's a little… tied up at the moment," the imposter responded, "Anyways, I need to tell you something in private."  
"Okay. I've got the perfect place." I led the imposter over to an open training room. Definitely not what it expected. I turned so my back was facing them. "Okay, you can tell me what you had to say, but I've something to tell you about Hiren'Faroth first."  
"Um, okay…?" The imposter was going to try to find out information before attacking me. Smart move. Or is it?  
"There are two types of hunters: Game and Stealth. Game-type likes to "play with its food" before killing it, much like cats. Stealth-type stays in the shadows and strikes at the most convenient time. So what does that make me?" I looked as though I was lost in thought. "Does that make me a Nemesis, or a Jill Valentine?"  
"Uh… Jill?" The Jill-poser raised a brow.  
"Yes and No." I slammed the imposter into a wall, causing it to cry out in shock.  
"But how?"  
"If you really were Jill Valentine, you would have said "me" with confidence, not "Jill" with question," I hissed darkly, "But I'm also like Nemesis, in the fact that I play with my prey before I kill it, but only when it's pissed me off." The imposter disappeared, and then reappeared behind me. I pulled out Water Song just in time to slice the ropes descending on me. I spun on my heel and kicked the imposter into Erin, who disappeared with the imposter.  
"Thanks Jill," Erin's laugh echoed in my ears.  
"Any time, Chris," I grinned. I knew she was just going to let the shifter go. She had to, or Wesker would kill her. Possibly literally.

I walked back to Jill and Chris. Aerith and Cloud had left by this time. Jill was asleep in Chris's arms now. I sighed softly as I looked at her. Chris seemed to already know what I wanted to do next, as he stood up and took her to my room. I had a small stock of food and drinks in there, so I would only have to leave for the bathroom. Chris held Jill's hand as she slept on my bed. I sighed, knowing that this was going to be a long while before she woke up.

Hours passed, as Chris and I took turns watching over Jill. We had a specific code to let the other know who it was. Chris walked in as I growled out of habit. He held up his hands in the Vulcan greeting. I nodded and twirled my finger in the air. He whistled two notes high, one note low. I purred softly, and then growled harshly. He shut the door.  
"How is she?" he asked.  
"She's been suffering a nightmare. From the mutters of your name and forgiveness, I'd take a wild guess and say it's about Africa," I sighed, "She's not doing too well." Jill flipped again, cold sweat dripping down her face. I wiped her face again and wrung out the cloth in a bucket, about an inch full of the stuff. Chris gave me a disgusted look and I just shrugged. I honestly had gotten used to the smell. Suddenly, Jill sprang up, screaming. She sat there, eyes wide in fear. She relaxed a little, gasping for air and holding her arms.  
"Jill?" I asked in concern. She looked up at me, still shivering. I sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. "Sh… It's okay…" Jill just shook her head as Chris sat next to us. Something else was there, locked in the back of her mind.  
"I'm going to look in your mind for a minute, okay? You'll go unconscious though… so I need your permission," I cooed. Jill nodded. Chris held her as I dove right in.

Her mind was like walking into Fort Knox. It was insanely clean, and locks were everywhere. Most of what she had already let me know was out in the open. Jill's subconscious persona was standing there, a very confused look on her face. She looked at me and flinched, ready to run away. I calmly walked up to her and held her tiny form. Go figure that Jill was still a child on the inside. A very scared and shy child at that.  
"It's okay… it's me, Vicki." I made sure there was a motherly tone to my voice. Jill nodded as she gripped my hand. I stood up, letting her go.  
"Am I in trouble?" she asked. I shook my head.  
"I think I may know how to find out what happened to you and the others back at Raccoon," I sighed.  
"You mean… when we were sent away…?" she asked. I nodded.  
"It's something in your head. I think it's why you were sent away, but I can't be sure. It'd be like… a giant locked safe or something. Do you know where one of those is?" I looked down at the child version of Jill. She nodded, her grip getting tighter.  
"But there's scary things there. I don't want to go…" she whimpered.  
"I need you to guide me. Just show me the way, and I will protect you," I told her in my most reassuring voice. She nodded. I put her on my shoulders as my body shifted to my final form. She buried her head in my fur.  
'Just tell me where to go, and I will keep you safe,' I thought to her. She nodded and pointed ahead of us.

It felt like hours of walking before anything happened. The safe and secure halls of her mind went from Fort Knox to Raccoon City in an instant. I looked like it used to be a comfortable place until the incident. I allowed my wings to shield her as I walked on. There were growls and moans coming from every direction. I growled low when I noticed movement. There was a pain in my back as I felt a forced change to my visual representation. Jill got off while I changed. I shook for a bit, right until I changed into her older form. I stared at myself, then at her. She was still scared, so I wordlessly took her to a safe room. Thank God, she had those in her head.

"Jill, why did I turn into you?" I asked calmly. She shrugged.  
"I don't know. But normally I change back into that when I come here. It's like someone is forcing me to…" she whimpered. I hugged her.  
"It's probably a safety measure, to keep you from dying. After all, it is just like Raccoon City here. I'll just keep this handy, just in case," I whispered. I was using her voice and everything. Fortunately, her Samurai Edge was here for me to use. It was fully loaded, and a few clips of ammunition and a first aid spray were lying around as well. I took them all, giving a couple of clips to Jill, just in case. She was still a child in this form. I sighed, wishing that Celeste was here with me. Jill clung to my hand as we walked outside again.

I figured that this part of Jill's mind was probably caused by all of the nightmares she endured. There was every type of creature that she had faced, some of which I had never seen or heard of before. I took all of my practice sessions with Jill and Chris into account and started to use them. I could easily pretend that I was the actual Jill with this. Jill followed me closely, silently giving me directions to her locked memory. I looked around cautiously as I felt like we were being stalked by one of the many creatures.

"S.T.A.R.S!" it cried, finally breaking the awful silence. I turned, just in time to see it coming.  
"Oh shit…" I grabbed Jill and ran for it. She screamed the moment she saw the giant tyrant. I ran through corridors, quickly turning sharp corners and jumping over gates. Nemesis crashed through a few walls, just trying to get at us. I put Jill down in front of a stairwell.  
"Climb! Hurry!" I shouted as Nemesis barreled around a corner. Jill wasted no time in running up the stairs. I dodged Nemesis and shot him, just to grab his attention. 

"Over here!" I ran into the building and moved over and around things. I turned and shot an entire clip into his chest. He punched me, throwing me into a wall. I rolled out of the way just before he could hit me again. I barreled through the building, looking for ammunition and larger guns. I bounded up the stairs as I shot behind me. If I remembered anything from the game, it was that he'd drop after a while of being shot. Finally, I found what I was looking for. A single grenade. Small, but it would have to do. I jumped out of the way of another punch and got out of the room, running towards the stairs. I turned on the ball of my foot and pulled the pin, launching it at the monster. Nemesis stepped on the grenade, just in time for it to explode. I bolted up the stairs as he fell through the hole created.

"That was convenient." I thought out loud. I managed to grab Jill on my way out to the roof. Soon, Nemesis was back on our tails. I leapt over alleys until I could go no further. I breathed in a panic. There was nowhere to go, and Nemesis was only getting closer. I nearly stepped off the ledge as I tried to think of a way out. I could only think of one last thing for Jill to say at that time.  
"Chris! Help me!"

As if my prayers were answered, a gunshot rang out.  
"Jill! This way!" It was an image of Chris, but not actually him. He looked exactly like he should, but still wore his S.T.A.R.S vest from the mansion incident. I quickly ran to him, carrying Jill. I would have to explain when we got there that I wasn't actually Jill. Of course, this was going to create an interesting story for Celeste to hear. I shook my head as I tried to focus on Chris rather than anything else. He seemed to have an actual sense of direction here. He led me back down through the building and pulled me into a dark room.  
"Sh…" He pulled me into a closet and closed the door. I pressed Jill against me as she whimpered.  
"Sh… it's going to be okay…" I whispered. She quieted down as thundering steps approached us. There was a second set of steps that stopped right in front of the room. Chris pulled us further back into the closet. I could faintly see the shadows of two people searching the room. I rubbed Jill's back slowly, staring at the shadows.

"Try the other rooms." It was Wesker. There was something different about him though. I could faintly sense some kind of spiritual residue, like he was falling apart at the seams. I quietly gave Jill to Chris and was about to move when Wesker opened the closet. He searched the opposite end of the walk-in closet. Chris managed to scuttle out unnoticed with Jill. I was unfortunately stuck in a corner, the same corner Wesker was glaring at with those intense, cat-like eyes. He grinned all of a sudden and pulled me out, causing me to cry in shock. He covered my mouth as I struggled against him. He bound my arms behind my back and let me drop as he bound my thighs and ankles.  
"Chris!" I called, hoping that he would hide Jill and help me. No dice. Wesker left the closet and locked the door. He returned to my almost completely helpless body. I struggled in fury.  
"Stop. All you're doing is hurting yourself, Valentine," he ordered. I growled and kicked at him.  
"What the hell are you planning?" I growled. He chuckled as he pulled out a device I knew all too well.  
"Why nothing dear… just to control your mind." He rolled me onto my back and sat on my hips.  
"You're looking at the wrong Valentine. I'm the embodiment of her image, not her exactly." I showed no fear in my eyes.  
"Strength. You shall be useful, my dear Valentine," he whispered in my ears. I grinned as the door was smashed down.  
"Wrong again." I pulled my body up and smacked our foreheads together. This action stunned him long enough for the other person to throw Wesker through a wall. Chris knelt down and picked me up.

"You just can't stay out of trouble, can you?" he sighed.  
"I'm your partner, aren't I?" I rested my head against his chest. He carried me over to a safe room and kicked at the door a couple times. Jill was the one to open it. As Chris kicked the door shut, I noticed a foreign residue on him. It was actually leaking from his body, just like Wesker. He saw my confused look and untied me.  
"Where's Vicki?" he asked. I stared at him then laughed. It was really Chris. Somehow, I must have pulled him in too by accident.  
"Okay, that's rich," I said in between gasps for air. Jill giggled as she caught on.  
"What's so funny?" Chris looked at me in the face.  
"I'm Vicki. The Jill you want is her," I explained, nodding to Jill, "She's the 'brain', the person you know, not just a representation of her 'innocence'. She's the one in control."  
"Wow Jill, you really are still a kid." He got a glare and a 'humph' from her.  
"But you're cute," I chuckled as I finally had the ability to hug her, "And don't ask how I became her all of a sudden. The bad thing is that Wesker thinks I'm a part of Jill, or actually Jill. We can't let him know who I really am." Chris nodded.  
"He doesn't seem like the one we fought for so long…" Chris observed quietly. I nodded.  
"I know. I was told of another version of him. The one were dealing with inside my head's probably that one." I motioned that someone was listening in on the conversation. Right then, the entire place shook. I couldn't feel Wesker's presence anymore, but I could sense that the locked information had been stolen. I swore as I pushed our minds back to where the belonged.

I woke up to Celeste and Roxy looking over us like something had gone wrong. I sat up and held my head sorely. Jill was still unconscious. Chris groaned, letting me know I had to work on restricting my telepathy a lot more.  
"You guys look pale. Where's the fire?" I moaned, shaking my head clear as Jill woke up.  
"You'll want to see for yourself…." Celeste was too careful with those words for my comfort.

"Well… Shit."


	46. Chapter 46

Roxy and I continued to look at Vicki or what was thought to be her. It was like she fused with Jill and now looked like they're outcome. Where she almost looked like Jill's sister or daughter or something. She continued to stare up at us as I held out a mirror for her to see. I watched as her eyes widened and her arms got little goose bumps appeared on her arms.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED! CELESTE! I THINK SOMEONE CASTED A SPELL ON ME TO LOOK LIKE JILL! I'M SCREWED!" Vicki kept panicking till Roxy slapped her face and had a surprised sorry look on her face. "What the fuck was that for!" Another hit. "Cut it out!" I stopped Roxy's hand before she could hit her again. And I instantly let go. Something didn't feel right when I made contact with her arm but I couldn't place it at all.

"Roxy don't hit her it's the last thing she needs. As much as it seemed to help." Roxy smiled nervously in response and apologized to Vicki. "Anyway, that's not the worst of our problems. Zexion appeared a while ago and told us the shifter had come back." I saw Roxy lose composure for a split second and she was back to normal. I decided to leave Vicki and the group to go find the other organization members to see if they had any idea where Zexion was and what he wanted. _'I hope what I think happens won't happen' _I thought as I walked out of the castle following the path to the cliffs. Sure enough I found Xigbar, Axel, Roxas, and Zexion all there standing in a secret meeting.

"Hey there she is!" Axel yelled announcing my arrival. "We were just talking about you!" I walked numbly to the group and looked at Zexion. "How much do you know about my abilities?" Zexion looked at me with disinterest.

"A lot more than you probably do."

"Then tell me why memories are fading." This caught him off-guard. He thought for a minute before replying.

"Could be pieces of your memories latch on to your heart pieces. And go into the hearts you create. Or memories of your hometown are returning." I froze. If it was the first one then what about the heart Medusa stole?

As if reading my mind Zexion said "The heart Medusa stole was released so it became a part of you again. But unless the new ones are released through death, those memories might be gone forever; I don't really know if you'll regain them in time." I looked sadly at the ground.

"What other choice do I have?" I murmured as Zexion stepped back a bit.

"Then you will absorb souls to help us regain our hearts?" I felt like I was being to rash making this decision without talking to anybody but this was serious. And I knew this would save Roxy.

"I need you to get Roxy for me safe though, I'll sneak out tonight to gather your souls. No Roxy. No hearts." I glared harshly as I walked away to make sure Vicki was okay. I pulled out another gold necklace with a black guitar pick and put it around my neck kissing it lightly. _'I pray everything will turn out okay.'_

Later in the day 'Roxy' suddenly disappeared and everyone was looking for her wondering where she went. As to not raise suspicion I tried my best to make up lies and pretend to look for her. A bit later I had gone in to take a bath when I heard Vicki and P.J. arguing about something.

"Well you must know something about it since you talk to her the most."

"What am I supposed to know? Especially something like that! She was protecting us right?"

"Yes but the shifter got away, something must have happened to allow that." P.J was getting louder.

"I don't fucking know okay!" I quickly grabbed a towel and bolted out the bathroom in time to grab Vicki's hand and stop her from hitting P.J. It was then I realized that they weren't the only two in there. Leon, Squall and Sephiroth were in the room too. Vicki was about to yell again when she looked at me "What the fuck are you doing in only a towel?"

I reddened in response to all three men staring. I quickly ran back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"The hell...?" Leon started

"Was that?" I could hear Squall finish through the walls. I reddened even more. On top of that my combat teacher Sephiroth saw. Our next training session is going to be awkward for me. I was so into my thoughts I didn't notice Vicki yelling again till I heard a slap sound and stomping. I opened the door a crack and peered out at P.J.

"Everyone's gone, you can come out now." I timidly walked out still dripping wet and looked around.

"What was that all about?" He looked away for a moment and shifted a bit on one foot.

"I suspect Erin might be up to something, the shifter shouldn't have left her grasp. I made the mistake of asking Vicki if she knew anything and that happened." I looked around for a second.

"Things are just going to go downhill from here aren't they?" He nodded sadly as I walked into the bathroom to finish up.

After I had finished my bath I had decided to walk around the castle a bit and collect my thoughts for tonight. First of all Vicki and P.J. were at each other's throats again and this time it didn't seem like it was going to heal. Second the shifter posed as Roxy so I was praying that the organization knew where she was and not in the clutches of Wesker. The fact I wasn't able to tell in the first place showed that there was something off about the shifter and she was getting sneakier. I assumed Vicki didn't suspect her at all because she obviously didn't read her memory to find out it wasn't her. And On top of all of it Vicki now looked like Jill. I shook my head a bit and continued to walk down the halls. _'Everything will be okay.'_ I thought to myself, '_it just has to'_

I reflected back to the lessons with Sephiroth. He always attacked me like he wanted to kill me, which was probably right. And amazingly I had managed to keep up and not have any major cuts I needed to heal. I even nicked his arm at one lesson, which he rewarded with a hit to the face with the back of his sword and telling me to concentrate. I sighed as I walked down the halls towards the kitchen. For some reason I had the urge for a cinnamon bun and couldn't for the life of me know why.

As I walked into the room I saw Axel leaning against the opposite wall with his eyes closed. He opened them as I opened the first cupboard.

"So, four hearts in one night. Hope you're up to the challenge." I made a small noise in response, completely distracted by the need for the pastry I desired. "I hope you're not thinking of ducking out kid." I opened the cupboard next to him into his face. "What was that for?" He yelled in protest.

"You have someone I cherish. Don't ever think I'd abandon what's close to me." I growled darkly. He scoffed and walked off. I opened the cupboard he had been blocking and found a package of the pastry I desired so much and cheered a little bit. I munched on the treat as I walked out down the hall and out to the garden. As I walked a bit further I saw Reno walking towards me from my left.

"You okay?" I looked at him funny and nodded. "I just haven't seen you eat food for a while." I looked down a bit.

"I don't know why, I just suddenly had a craving. Like something deep inside was trying to tell me something." I shrugged. "It's probably nerves or something related to everything that's happened. I was never one to be able to handle stress well."

Reno nodded as if in understanding. "I need a break soon." He was already off on another topic. "I haven't been to Midgar since we got you guys." I looked up at him surprised.

"But wasn't Midgar destroyed?" He looked at me with a grin on his face.

"It was a fake one. We had it on another planet altogether to have less interference when we retrieved you guys. We knew it would come in handy since someone obviously trailed the heartless there."

"Then where is Midgar?" I looked amazed at the red-head, who smirked back.

"Here. All our homes are on separate continents here." I stared with my mouth agape.

"So why go through all the trouble to make a fake one? Seems like a waste for the most part." The most part was for the lab, where something happened I couldn't quite picture anymore.

"All in the mission." And with that I was alone again.

I walked back out onto the cliff after everyone had retired for the night. As I walked up I could see Roxy, sitting as quiet and calm as she could. I could tell from here though she was slightly worried and confused. I smiled softly at her as I neared.

"You ready?" I glared in Xigbar's direction.

"Get her out of here safe first."Roxy looked at me shocked.

"Celeste, what are you doing?" My gaze softened again as I looked at her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I just need to do this myself." I closed my eyes for a second and opened them again. "I'll see you in the morning?" I didn't like how it came out as a question.

"Okay." She looked at the ground for a second. "Just make sure you come back alright." I put my hand on the top of her head.

"I will." I grinned as best I could as she slowly walked off.

"Are you ready now?" I looked towards the group and nodded as they all summoned thousands of nobodies. I breathed deeply as I set to work.

I made my way up to make the first heart easily. I doubled over as the second heartbeat went slowly in sync with my own. When it finally subsided enough that I could stand I staggered and started attacking the nobodies in mix with eating their souls. I noticed that I was slower at getting the souls and that my back had the outline of two wings. I didn't have time to dwell on it though, as all that was on my mind was keeping Roxy everyone safe. I couldn't distract myself with little things.

I finally made another heart and both went out of rhythm with my own heart and I fell to my hands and knees gasping for air. With great effort I made it back up and slashed at the nearest nobody. I was starting to lose my train of thought and could only concentrate on killing everything around me. Be it by soul capture or the brutal old fashioned way. I could see from the back of my mind that the organization was having trouble keeping the nobodies between me and them; for some reason this made me want to get at them more. I started stealing souls in a direct path towards Zexion and as I reached him he disappeared. I let out an animalistic growl and looked behind me to find him at the other end of the area. I charged after him again with the same result.

As I went for a third time, I hit another limit and collapsed on the ground gasping for air and gripping the dirt tightly. I screamed in fury as a large black wing and a large white wing sprouted from my back and my eyes started to glow brightly. I stood up slowly and let out a loud cry as I charged into the middle of the area, eyes blazing and wings full stretched. _'I have to make it. I have to make the last heart.'_ I thought desperately as I let out another cry and took the soul of a nobody while ripping apart another. I spun on my heel as I caught sight of Xigbar smirking form from the other side of the horde. I knew in my mind it was a trap, but my body moved on its own as it charged at him. As I jumped in the air I released my scythes and slammed down into the ground. When I saw I missed my target I flew into the air and swooped down into the crowd taking souls with me. Xigbar was smirking at me from the top of the cliff and with no hesitation I flew to the top to meet him. He jumped further away and summoned more nobodies to get in my way as I tried to get at him. The more I killed the more he summoned until I took their souls in a desperate attempt to get at him faster. I knew it was a bad idea all the way until I went to hit him and blacked out. Five heartbeats beating wildly in my chest.

_'Master!' I was in a daze surrounded by blackness. I couldn't open my eyes at all and was starting to panic until I felt two hands on my shoulders. I slowly relaxed until my breathing was normal._

_'Who is this?' I whispered to myself as I hovered there in darkness._

_'Who do you think it is?' Male, higher voice, long fingers..._

_'Dime?' I swear I could see his grin as he let go of me and started talking._

_'Yay, I can't believe you guessed it! I mean I guess you should since you're my master and all but I feel so happy that you-' He looked at my still closed eyes and trailed off. 'You can open your eyes master.' I tried._

_'I can't Dime. I really can't. It's impossible right now.' He let go and I instantly tensed feeling very alone._

_'Dime?' I could feel my eyes watering thinking I was alone. I suddenly heard guitar music and calmed down a bit letting the familiar music surround me. 'What are you playing?' I couldn't remember but felt very secure listening._

_'Something from your past I hope you'll remember along with everything else master.' He stopped playing as my eyes snapped open and nothing seemed different. 'You won't be able to remember as long as you fall into the darkness.' I looked in the direction I thought he was in. _

_'What do you mean?' I looked around at nothing getting scared._

_I suddenly felt his arms around me as he buried his face in my hair. 'I just pray that you'll find the light and come out alive master. I don't want anything to happen to you.' I could feel tears in my hair. Leave it to Dime to be emotional but not say why. 'You're going to wake up soon. Just remember that you'll always have the light of others to guide you home when all seems lost.' I hugged him back and finally was able to see the fabric of his shirt as he faded away, a smile on his face that didn't belong to him. I smiled as I cried._

_'I'll see you soon. I promise.' I cried looking at his face as it slowly faded into darkness._

I woke up gasping and held onto my head in pain; as I looked up at the white walls that were lit with a dull glow from the small light on the ceiling; I was struck with a sudden need to panic. As I looked over the bedside, I was faced with multiple strange faces that were looking at me worried. Gathering my strength I said the only thing I could muster in my surprise:

"Who are you?"


	47. Chapter 47

It had only been a couple of hours since Celeste had woken up. I had searched her mind personally, and found all of her memories either locked away or gone. It was as if, someone had stolen them. I sat on my bed with my head in my hands, not knowing what to think. PJ was suspicious of Erin and probably hated me for defending her. Roxy… well, no one knew where she was. Erin was off gallivanting around the universe, pretending to be Wesker's right hand man along with the shifter, Ridley, and Nemesis. Jill was finally calming down thanks to Chris, but now he was even more protective of her. Claire was still missing and Bill and Louis showed up out of nowhere. I now looked like a beastial elvish version of Jill. Now this. My best defense against Wesker has amnesia. I sighed, slumping over my knees as I watched her sleep.  
'That's kind of creepy of me,' I mused in my head. I stood up as PJ relieved me from my watch.  
"PJ? Can I ask you something?" My words came out quiet and unsure. He glared at me with a snort. "You think it would be okay if I left without Celeste this time? I still need to figure out where Claire is. She might have something key to this entire thing…"  
"Sure… then you can meet up with your demonic friend and become a B.O.W. Oh! Maybe you could kill off all of the Death Angels while you're at it!" he hissed. I twitched in annoyance.  
"Look, Pajashok. Maybe I know something you don't know. Hell, maybe it's something that's crushing me to not tell you, because it could endanger us all. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm not enjoying this. You ever think about that? I'm just as worried about Celeste as you are, which is why I have to find Claire. She might know how to get Celeste's memories back, 'cause I sure as hell don't, you prick. I'm just trying to help her. And you know what? I'm in more danger with her memories gone right now. Knowing my luck, something's gonna go horribly wrong! I just want her to be okay, and for me to be in the right mind to see it!" My growling voice seemed to put PJ on edge, along with the things I had said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to make sure she's protected while I'm gone, so you better be here when I get back, or we might lose one of the closest people to me!" I stormed out before he could say anything. Chi came out of my pocket and nuzzled my neck. I smiled very slightly at her.

"Chi… What am I going to do…? There's no way PJ will trust me. Not even with what I just said, but the fact that I'm just trying to protect Celeste by leaving her behind…" I sighed. She just nuzzled me again.  
"You think I'm doing the right thing?" Chi nodded. I smiled softly and made up my mind. "Cloud!"

It was another couple of hours before I found him. I told him of my plan, and we agreed to have a meeting to see who should come with me. It seemed like almost everyone came to it, including PJ. PJ, of course, had to come to the meeting with Celeste, so he would know what was going on and Celeste would be protected at the same time. He continued to shoot glares at me, with Celeste not knowing what the hell that was about. I noticed some people missing, but decided to leave that to those who stayed. "So here's what's up. I'm going back to Raccoon City to find out what happened to Claire. Since it was our best area for information, I'm forming a team of who should come. I need specific skills, and decoys."  
"Decoys? Why would you need those?" Zoey asked.  
"Well, my best defense against Wesker isn't exactly in the best fighting condition right now. So, using my current figure, we can set up at least one decoy party." I nodded to Jill, who understood right away. "If we can set up more, it'll take some of the tension off of me. Unfortunately, it'll put it on others, most specifically the decoys. The decoys will be of myself and Celeste, since Wesker doesn't know about Celeste's amnesia yet. I will pose as Jill rather than myself, and go on a different route. There's a forest on the west side, and I think we can find some clues there."  
"Wait, why will you pose as her?" Snow questioned. Chris crossed his arms as he clued in.  
"Because who else would be dumb enough?" PJ growled, causing Jill to shoot daggers at him.  
"Watch it mutt. But that is a valid point. It's also so you will know that it's me, and no one else here could pull it off. So, there will be multiple Jill-look-a-likes running around, but only one 'Jill'."  
"Oh, I see. That way he can't track you magically as well…" At least Garnet was able to put two and two together without the two Leons saying that statement at the same time. I held back a chuckle.  
"Bingo. We don't know what he's capable of achieving, but keeping his mind off Celeste and I is the most important thing to do right now, so I won't use any of my magic or my weapons. In fact, I'm trading most of them with whoever comes. The Beretta's mine though. At the same time, I need people to stay here and keep a good watch on Celeste. Bill, PJ, I need you two to stay here so I can keep in contact with you guys in case something happens. We'll use these radio sets I found in the basement. I got Cid to tweak them so they'll last the distance. My frequency is 105.38, and use it at your discretion. However, yelling at me for past events is not a good idea," I gave PJ a glare, "And when I come back, you and me are having a talk. So, with that settled, who's coming, who's staying?"

The room was silent for a moment as I looked around. Jill was the first to say she was coming. Good thing too, or I'd have to change my plan. Chris immediately jumped in, as my partner, since it would only make sense. PJ and Bill put on their ear pieces. Francis volunteered for the 'Jill protection' party. Zoey decided to stay, along with Leon, Ada, and Louis. Cloud was staying to see if he could find Roxy and help protect Celeste. Yuna offered to be a second decoy, to which Tidus and Wakka volunteered as bodyguards. Lulu just sighed at them. Squall sighed and offered protection for Jill. Snow joined Yuna's party and Zidane joined Jill's. Jill sighed and rolled her eyes. Everyone else at the meeting opted to stay.

"So, we all ready?" I finally asked. Everyone nodded.  
"Okay. You have until fourteen hundred hours to get ready." I placed two more earpieces on the table, "Jill, Yuna, you two can have these. There's more down bellow, and I also need one last thing from someone. Who can cut hair?" The last question shocked everyone. I could hear the thoughts of, 'I thought she was too proud of it to cut it' and so on. Eventually, Aerith raised her hand.  
"I'll meet you in a sec. I need to borrow stuff from Jill." With that, Jill and I left to her room.

In a couple of minutes, I came into Aerith's room wearing Jill's S.T.A.R.S. uniform. I sat down in front of Aerith and let her work. "How long would you like it?" she asked.  
"Shoulder length." My reply was perhaps a bit too quick, since she jumped a little.  
"Really? But it looks so nice long." She started to groom it.  
"I've always hated that I hate to keep it long. Now that it's gone permanently straight, I can finally have it short. And not two inches short. I like curls as much as the next person, but even you have to agree that they're too much work."  
"I understand," she chuckled.

The rest of the hair cut was done in partial silence. Aerith promised to have Tifa help care for Chi, implying something to me. It took me a bit to realize what she meant. In fact, right until I got to my room to switch out my weapons.  
"Kendra?" I looked at the little mouse, who chuckled, "You were a mouse this entire time? What the crap…" Chi, er… Kendra nuzzled my neck again. I sighed.  
"Well, at least that explains what happened to you. I wonder who else is alive..? God, I've missed the randomness. Heart?" She held her paws up in a heart and I chuckled, doing the same.

I left her with Tifa and got ready to leave. My weapons were distributed among the two parties as I fiddled with my new lock picks. Something felt odd, as if we were being watched.  
"Jill?" Chris waved his hand in front of my face, causing me to snap back to reality.  
"Hm? What is it Chris?" I looked up at him and he simply pointed at my shoulder.  
"New friend?" he teased. I completely ignored the comment, staring at the blue butterfly on my shoulder.  
"Claudia…" I whispered gently, the butterfly moving over to Celeste as she wandered in. She landed on Celeste's shoulder, quickly moving to her hair so she wouldn't swat her away. The butterfly looked like a moving hairpin. I chuckled as Celeste had the same realization as I did. How many more of our family and friends were turned into animals after the heartless wiped them out? Who knew…? Chris snapped his fingers in front of my face, causing me to jump.  
"Jill, this isn't the time to space out," he cooed. I sent a glare his way. He was enjoying this way too much. He chuckled and motioned to Erin. I stared with two questions in my mind, when did she get there and when did Chris start being overly observant? I pushed the questions to the back of my mind and looked at Celeste as she walked closer to us, telling the butterfly to go find Aerith and stay with her. The butterfly flew off swiftly.

"Are you done with the blue butterfly moments Jill?" Erin laughed. I looked up at her with a minor blush.  
"Maybe Vicki's wearing off on me," I responded rather flatly, causing her to chuckle.  
"Any ways, I found Roxy. I'll show you guys if you're not in a rush to get out of here." Her tone went semi-serious, implying that there was going to have to be a change of plans. I nodded. Erin led us to Roxy's room and placed her hand on the wall. The wall slid open revealing Roxy, tired and shaken. She tackled Celeste instantly.  
"Um…?" Celeste was completely confused.  
"Go find PJ. He'll explain," I told her. She nodded and the pair vanished.

"How did you find that?" I looked up at Erin, silently questioning why she was wearing Chris's S.T.A.R.S. uniform.  
"I hit the wall. Someone's not too happy on Wesker's end." I nodded.  
"Ridley?" I chuckled. He was known for hissy fits, at least, from what I remembered from playing Metroid.  
"Yup. Something about some blonde chic who defeats him all the time…" She thought back to the fight as I smirked.  
"Samus Aran? Also known as the Huntress?"  
"Yeah, her. She messed up his latest plan to get to Vicki."  
"Goody. At least she's on our side, or we'd be screwed."  
"And how do you know that?"  
"Vicki told me." I smirked as we climbed in to the gummy ship, "You coming with us?"  
"Yeah. Mind if I stick with you?" She helped me in.  
"Not at all." Chris nodded to me as Erin climbed in.  
"I'll just help protect this Vicki then." Of course, now I realized that he must have made contact with Erin just so he would be put on Jill's team.  
"What, you want a break from your partner?" I teased. He just chuckled and closed the door.

I sat at the helm as usual and drove us there. It was a nice break from Sora and Riku. But it was unusual without Celeste and PJ. I guess I really liked having them there. Erin gave me a reassuring squeeze to my shoulder. I simply nodded and proceeded. About part way there, we were hit by something on our tail. I speed up instinctively. The attacking ship hit us again, ramming us from the side. I could hear the others demanding what was going on.  
"Chris! Erin! Get on the turrets! Jill! Zidane! Secure the supplies! Francis! Get on the big gun!" I called. I weaved through the other obstacles, allowing the others to take down anything in our path. Yuna acted as doctor for those who needed it. Fortunately, injuries were minor. Jill gave a quick run down on how to kill a zombie for those who needed it.  
"Hang on! It's gonna get bumpy!" I called, "We're hitting atmosphere now!" Everyone strapped themselves into their seats as I began to descend onto the planet. The steering wheel got hot, but I managed to land it safely outside of the blown up city.

As it turned out, the city wasn't all that bad. Still zombie infected, but still standing. The barricade was new though. It was simple enough sneak on through. There wasn't a single guard at the barricade, much less a camera. We split up into our groups as soon as we got into the city. Jill and Yuna confirmed their routes and I simply went forward. "Contact me if you find something," I said simply over the radio. They both nodded and headed their own ways.

Erin and I mowed past all of the zombies easily. We had only seen the normal kind for the majority of the way there, which made me nervous. I shot another zombie in the head.  
"Kind of creepy around here now…" I stated, just to break the silence between us.  
"Yeah… wasn't there a ton of special infected before?" Erin asked.  
"This is unusual unless Francis killed them all," I snickered, "Wait, how did you know about that?"  
"I have a good pair of eyes, unlike you Jill."  
"I have good eyes…"  
"For shiny objects."  
"That's the game only. Here, you can't just sift through." Erin chuckled.  
"Okay, back to the mission." We continued through downtown to the west side of the city. We were going back out when we were stopped.  
"Survivors? Wait, you're Jill Valentine! Didn't you get out before?" one of the men pointed to me.  
"I did, but someone dropped me off in the city. I was unconscious, and if she hadn't saved me, I might have been dead a couple of days ago," I lied, nodding to Erin.  
"Are you hurt at all?"  
"My head is still killing me, but other than that, I'm fine."  
"How did you hit it?"  
"That's how I was knocked unconscious. I was kidnapped." That shut him up quickly.  
"I'm fine thanks." Erin crossed her arms at my sudden popularity.  
"Come on. This Evac zone hasn't been compromised yet."  
"Is it the last one standing?"  
"No. Zeta's still standing."  
"Good. There should be guards at the others. That's how they got her in."  
"You followed them?"  
"Wouldn't you if you saw some guys taking an unconscious Jill into a black unmarked van?" He nodded with understanding. I felt highly uncomfortable with the whole 'kidnapping' lie, considering that it could happen to me even more so now. I was really missing Celeste right then. We proceeded to the forest after spending a couple hours in the evacuation zone. It gave me the chills as I thought back to the first Resident Evil. Didn't help that there were leeches on the trees.  
"Are you getting cold?"  
"No… I'm just creeped out."  
"Old memories?"  
"Yeah... old… horrifying memories." The nostalgia hit me, remembering how Jill must have felt the first time around. Of course, I remembered that she was the one who didn't believe that zombie could exist before the mansion, and going up to one in the same kind of area made me shudder. It was even complete with a downed helicopter. Just made me wonder how much this place actually reflected Raccoon City. I shook my head clear as Erin set up camp. It would be another day before we'd reach the mansion, and we were both feeling sleep knocking at us.

_I opened my eyes to a dark room. I could see Roxy off in the distance. Celeste and Erin stood on either side of me. I looked at them, attempting to ask what was going on.  
'My voice! It's gone!' I cried in my head, holding my chest in fear. Celeste and Erin just smiled and began to walk towards Roxy. I looked up at them and tried to run after them, held back by chains. I struggled against my chains, noting the bars now closing in front of me. All three of them vanished soon after. I fell to my knees, silently pleading for them to stay. Wesker, Nemesis and Ridley all appeared in front of me. I backed up against the wall, attempting to scream in fear. They just laughed at my pitiful form. Nemesis held me up by the neck. I writhed in his grip uselessly. He pulled back his hand, a familiar purple tentacle sliding out of the palm just to taunt me. I held my face away. He pulled his hand back and slammed it against my face. Then everything went black._

I woke up screaming from the nightmare. I held the blanket against my chest and brushed the sweat from my face.  
"Are you okay, Jill?" Erin sat up groggily. I looked at her and shook my head. She held my shaking form gently, rubbing my arms to calm me down.  
"Tell me what happened…" she cooed.  
"C… can I tell you later…?" I shivered from the cold morning air. She nodded and let me go get back into 'my' uniform. I thought about the nightmare again and again to figure out what it meant. Considering how terrifying it was, I would probably find out soon enough. I remembered someone right then, wishing he would come to save me from my fate. But I didn't know if he was alive or dead or what else could happen to him. I sniffled, dropping to my knees and finally breaking down crying. It felt like almost a year since that had happened. Erin naturally came over to see what was wrong.  
"You miss him… Don't you…" It was almost as if she read my mind. I nodded through my sobs. She picked me up and carried me over to the tent.  
"Rest for now… You need it." She smiled softly. I held her for emotional support, shivering in fear and agony. This was the worst way to torment someone. Erin just held me and allowed me to cry out my pain.

I felt better in about an hour. Despite the breakdown, I insisted that we continued moving. Erin noted that I was a lot more cautious now, although moving quicker. I had less on me, so naturally I would be more agile. I bounded ahead, keeping within Erin's sights. It had been five hours since we left camp, and the mansion was finally in sight.  
"About time we got here…" I grumbled. Erin gripped my shoulder to calm me down. I gave her a quick nod as we put our backs against the doors. I opened the door slowly, surprised it was unlocked. We slipped in, tightly shutting the doors behind us.  
"Really takes you back, doesn't it…?" Erin sighed.  
"Yeah… I guess I really am getting older…" I chuckled, "At least there aren't any dogs this time around." I had a feeling that Erin was just testing how much I was into Jill's character. I pulled open the door on the left slowly, peering in.  
"A dinning room. How fitting," Erin commented. I just rolled my eyes. We went to the fireplace at the back of the room. Looking around, I realized that this must be the same mansion from the original game. So shouldn't this place be blown up? Everything looked new or new-ish, so it was probably rebuilt. A shiver ran up my spine.  
'Are we being watched?' I looked up and noticed a couple of cameras. Some one had to be watching us.  
"Hey Jill, take a look at this." Erin waved me over. I stood over her shoulder.  
"A pool of blood?" I looked at her face, then back down at the blood. At the same time, I was trying not to make a comment on how much it looked like jam.  
"Yeah. Good thing Chris isn't here…" I crouched down with her.  
"Looks fresh. Whatever did this is bound to still be around."  
"Have the same feeling that I do?"  
"That it was a zombie? Yeah…" I stood up, "If this plays out like it did back then, I'll be back." I walked through the closest door.  
"Be careful." I nodded and turned the corner. At the left end of the hall, sure enough, there was a zombie eating the corpse of a man in a… STARS uniform…? I blinked as I recognized the man as Bravo team member Kenneth Baker.  
'What's going on here?' I panicked, knowing that his decaying body should have been blown up in the original incident. Then again, there was that thing where certain things didn't actually happen, and others did. Either way, this wasn't supposed to be like this. I shook my head, now seeing a random person, who happened to be dressed like Kenneth. I blinked and stood in shock as the zombie took notice of me. I shrieked in horror, not understanding what came over me. I ran back to the dining room and hid behind Erin.  
"There's a monster out there!" I cried. It burst through the door and shambled towards us. Erin shot its head off without a word.  
"Maybe we should go to a safe room first."  
"Good idea." She pulled me out of the room and back into the main hall.  
"It's past that door."  
"And if I remember right, there should be a map in the statue's bowl. We'll grab that on our way through." I nodded and walked onwards. The art room had a statue in the middle. Erin held me up and I grabbed the map. She didn't put me down right away, but kept moving instead.  
"Um… Rin? Can you put me down?"  
"I'm just going to run through the next hall. I don't need you freezing up on me." I nodded as she bolted through the hall after she threw open the door. Dogs jumped out of the windows at us, causing me to hide my face with the map. She made it into the next hall quickly and put me down. I pulled the map off my face and looked at it. Fortunately, it was a full blueprint of the mansion. It seemed to be pretty small above ground, but full of twists and turns underneath. I put the map away as I followed Erin.

The hall was tiny compared to every other space we had been in. I slipped into a room, only to realize that it was a bathroom.  
"Kind of creepy now…" I looked in the tub carefully.  
"Be careful. Remember the last time…" Erin warned.  
"I know. But this time, I won't be _as_ shocked," I sighed, draining the tub. I backed away, watching a hand shoot out of the mucky water. I waited for the zombie to crawl out and stomped on its head before it could touch me. The ensuing crunch, paired with the gruesome sight before my eyes, made my stomach weak. I held back my breakfast, allowing Erin to grab whatever was in the tub. She washed it off and gave it to me.  
"Go ahead. I'll meet you in the hallway." She patted my back, turning me towards the toilet.

I didn't understand why I was freezing up and getting so disgusted by this. Maybe I had taken part of Jill's personality, along with her looks. I washed my face and arms quickly. Looking up into the mirror, I saw Nemesis instead of my own reflection. I looked around quickly, then back at the mirror, which had returned to my proper reflection. 'Okay, maybe just the unguarded stuff,' I thought. I opened the window to get rid of the 'dead body' smell. As I walked out, I found myself face first in Erin's chest. Before I had time to react, she shoved me back into the bathroom, giving me a 'don't come out yet' look. I nodded and sat away from the dead corpse, careful not to look at it. Erin was talking with someone. It was hard to make it out. I refocused my attention on Celeste, wondering how she was doing. My attention was diverted over to my headset, now ringing in my ear.

"Wolf One to Eagle Five. Do you read Eagle Five?" It was Jill.  
"Loud and clear, Wolf One. Go ahead." I replied quietly. There was some crying in the background on Jill's end.  
"We found the Lost Pup. Apparently, she has an 'other'."  
"'Other'? As in Death Angel 'other'?"  
"Yes. Wolf Two is looking for her. Why are you speaking so quiet?"  
"Hiding."  
"From…?"  
"I don't know yet. Eagle Six is talking with someone who's not supposed to know I'm here."  
"Ah. We'll keep Lost Pup safe. You worry about yourself, okay?"  
"Same to you, Wolf One. Take care of the pack." After that, static. I turned the earpiece to only receiving. Erin's hand poked in to motion me to hide. I quickly hid in a cupboard which I discovered had a secondary hiding place. I shut it slowly and watched the shape shifter come in to look for me. There were herbs at my feet, so I grabbed some and placed them carefully into my pockets.  
"Look. I told you, Vicki's not with… me… where's Jill?" Erin's voice echoed in my ears. I watched her pull out a special EMP that directly targeted cameras. She activated it and hid it.  
'Thanks,' I thought. That would inevitably put us in a little more danger, but not enough to actually make a difference. If anyone knew how Wesker worked, it was Erin. I just hoped she knew what she was doing. The shifter left and yelled at Erin outside of the bathroom for losing 'Jill'. I sighed inwardly at the fact that both of them failed to notice the _wide open_ window, which I could have used to hide outside of. I was small enough to fit through. Once they calmed down and separated, Erin came back in.

"You can come out now," she called. A crash and a bang later, I pulled myself out of the cupboard.  
"So that's where you were hiding. How didn't he see you?" She helped me up to my feet.  
"There's a secondary cupboard in there. Found some herbs," I explained, pointing back to the cupboard. Erin nodded.  
"Let's get out of here before he comes back."  
"Okay, first safe room should be just up ahead." I pulled out my Berretta and trotted out of the room. Erin followed me closely. The door I was looking for was the very last one. I swung it open quickly. We came into a room with a couple of zombies, but ignored them for the first door on the right. Another less crusty zombie blocked our path, earning a face full of bullets. We turned around the corner and closed the door behind us. Erin barricaded the door, allowing me to relax.  
"This is the last mansion I ever go to. Ever," I sighed. Erin pulled off her vest and used it as a pillow.  
"You should get some rest, Jill. Who knows what we have to deal with next," she yawned. I nodded and curled up on the floor. My sleep was soon disturbed by my ear piece ringing once again.  
"Nest to Eagle Five. Come in Eagle Five." This time it was PJ. I sat up and yawned.  
"Eagle Five reporting. What's your situation?" I rubbed my eyes slowly.  
"Are you safe?" He seemed rather hesitant to tell me anything at the moment, almost as if, he was crying.  
"For now. What's wrong?" My concerned tone woke up Erin. She looked up at me, noting the worry lines on my face. To be honest, I never expected what PJ said to be true… But it was the undeniable truth.

"Celeste is dead."


	48. Chapter 48

The shock of everything settled down and the long eared girl (Vicki I think her name was) had gone into my mind with some kind of strange power to see if she could bring them back. Her disappointment and my lack of change was enough to make everyone unhappy and leave. Vicki had stayed with me with her head in her hands, probably stressing, as I pretended to sleep. A little bit later a man she said was practically my brother came in and started arguing about something. It made me feel terrible that they were constantly at each other's throats. After a bit of yelling Vicki left and the man (P.J? The name seemed odd at first) sat down. He sighed as I opened my eyes to look at him to see his head in his hands too.

"What am I going to do?" I pretended to be asleep again so he could express his thoughts. "With Celeste's memory gone, and Vicki completely upset at me while conversing with our double agent what's going to happen to everyone? And on top of that I have no clue where Roxy is. Life was easier when I was a pet." I sat in my thoughts wondering about what he meant. Nobody had cared to explain anything to me seeing as they were too caught up in the fact I couldn't remember what they were fretting about. All I could do I guess was wait till they figured something out and all calmed down. In my opinion they were all acting rather hastily about everything, but then again I didn't know how tight the schedule was. A small while later while P.J. cooed small stories next to me about what I'd guess was my past life, I barely paid attention because I knew it wouldn't help at all, someone came in to tell P.J. that he needed to go to a meeting about what to do next. He looked at me sadly and I could feel something coming from him I could guess was his aura as people called it. But it made my heart drop to feel the pain and fatigue he was trying so hard to hide. I silently followed him keeping close to his side as we wandered the twisting hallways. The pipes along the walls were quite large but didn't seem like they could fit people.

At the meeting P.J. just seemed to be lashing out as much as he could at Vicki but it already seemed like nothing new. All I could tell was this was P.J's way of dealing with his despair and stress. All I could really concentrate on was that everyone in the room would quickly give me looks of pity before looking back at whoever was speaking at the moment and it made me very uncomfortable. I instinctly moved myself closer to P.J snuggling into his side to try and hide a bit. I looked at Vicki as she was talking to him and saw her glare at him soften a bit as we made eye contact. And then I sat with my face buried in P.J's arm as everyone started talking about who was going where. The name Roxy was used several times and I couldn't help feeling worry about the person in question. As everyone moved out I followed P.J closely and asked him a question that had been on my mind for a bit.

"P.J. who was my family?" The look of surprise was carefully hidden as he answered. "Your father and mother cared very deeply for you and your mom always made sure to help your friends if they needed it. Your two sisters Heaven and Claudia were younger than you and Heaven was like a little mouse and Claudia loved nature, mostly butterflies." I didn't feel like asking more because it already seemed so distant and unreal. "Could they be alive?" P.J. squeezed my shoulder a bit. "They might be. From what Aerith told me Vicki's mouse is more than a mouse." I looked at him with a confused look. All of this seemed to be more magical to be real at all. "Was there anyone else important to me?" He looked ahead and breathed deeply. "Your best friend Roxy who we're looking for and your boyfriend; you had many more but you were attached to them the most, besides Vicki and Erin anyway." I looked at the ground. "What could have happened to Roxy? Did she just disappear?" "She suddenly disappeared the night you lost your memories. We don't know where she went and we're hoping she has answers." P.J stopped and pointed to a door. "You can go see Vicki for now, I have some things to do and Vicki probably doesn't want to see me. I nodded and walked in.

As I entered I was confronted with a blue butterfly that almost seemed to be glowing. Out of shock I tried to swat it but it simply flew to my hair. I held my finger up and it landed gracefully on it. "P.J. told me my sister Claudia like butterflies. And that she could have lived. Are you her?" The butterfly flapped its wings, almost happily, and I blinked. "I wish I could be as happy. But I remember nothing about our life Claudia." The wings seemed to fall a bit as I closed my eyes to hold back sudden tears. "You should go to Aerith, someone said she was nice." I smiled slightly as the butterfly flew off and out of sight. I walked cautiously closer to Vicki someone appeared. They shared a few years and I only perked up when I heard the woman who appeared found Roxy. I followed them through the halls remembering what P.J said and followed swiftly.

The woman (I figured out her name was Erin along the way) put her hand on a random wall and it slid away revealing a shaking blond girl. The girl jumped up and tackled me instantly, holding me tightly like she feared I would disappear. "Umm….?" "Go find P.J. He'll explain." Vicki said. Roxy simply nodded and walked down the hall, me in tow.

"Celeste, what's going on?" She said as soon as we were out of earshot. "I wish I could tell you, I don't remember anything anymore. Complete amnesia." Roxy looked at me wide-eyed. The pupils in her grey eyes seemed to turn to slits slightly and her aura was both angry and scared. "Are you serious! What happened to cause this?" She was flailing a bit and as much as I wanted to laugh for some reason I knew I shouldn't. "I don't know, P.J said he was hoping you'd know." "I can tell you." We looked behind us to see a short boy about Roxy's height walk up to us. "Zexion?" Roxy questioned. I could see her aura get defensive. "What do you know?" Zexion seemed to ignore the venom in her voice and continued on. "I'll explain in a meeting, Roxy should know where to go." And with that he left and Roxy seemed to calm down a bit. "If he did anything." I went up and hugged her. "It'll be okay." I didn't know if it was going to be at all, in fact, I strongly believed the opposite at the moment. We stopped hugging and walked down the halls. A little bit farther we heard a noise coming from the pipes. Roxy suddenly released a pair of wings and a tail scaring the crap out of me. But as the noise drew nearer I realized it could only be something small, like an animal trapped. I walked past Roxy and looked into the end of the pipe.

I was suddenly knocked backwards a bit by an orange blur as Roxy shouted. I looked at the offender to see a little fox. It sat on my lap looking up at me with glee. I giggled as I picked it up. "Roxy, please warn me when you're going to do something unnatural like that again." She looked at me and started laughing. "You're one to talk! You have wings too! Plus you can turn those ribbons of yours into weapons!" She suddenly stopped laughing. "Oh right sorry, I forgot you forgot." I shook my head smiling as if to say it was alright, and then looked back down at the little fox. "I should name you." It yipped in response and wagged its tail. I was trying to think of a name and then it hit me, a sudden flashback of something. I couldn't make it out but I did see a name. "I'll name you Nexas!" I smiled happily as it yipped again. "Nexas the gaming fox." I nuzzled its nose as I looked at Roxy who had her mouth agape. "You remembered him?" I looked at her puzzled. "Sean!" From the look I must have had she got her answer. "Well at least you remember something." She said sadly. I decided to change the subject as I let Nexas on my shoulder. "So I have wings too?" Roxy perked up and nodded as we continued walking. "Yeah! Maybe you can release them still. I guess think about wings on your back will help." I nodded as I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I felt a sharp pain and screamed as two wings did pop out of my back. Nexas instantly nuzzled my neck whining as I looked at Roxy. "It'll get easier?" I laughed a bit and decided to keep the wings out for a bit. "What else can I do?"

Roxy filled me in as we walked to the meeting room and everyone seemed shocked at our entrance. Not only was Roxy safe but it still seemed I could use my powers. Roxy instantly looked at Zexion. "Fill us in. No excuses." Nexas, who was now in my arm, nuzzled the side of Roxy's arm. Everyone was in the room again and a few new faces I didn't recognize. "Okay, first of all, you know four of us have hearts now." Everyone nodded and a boy with large spiky hair smiled a bit. "Well here's the thing, every time Celeste made a heart, the heart can't simply survive, which is why Xigbar's was faulty. The heart she got for him was to dark to thrive. In short, to have a heart survive it needs part of a heart. So the piece of her heart acts as the 'heart' for the heart and the souls make it physical. She's been losing her heart the whole time to give us a new start. And her memories and life are attached to those pieces." A man with red hair in a ponytail spoke up "Were you aware of this the whole time?" The tension and anger coming from everyone in the room made it hard for me to breathe and I coughed a bit.

"Anyways, there's something you all should know that I think has been overlooked this whole time. Xenmas has been working with Wesker this whole time and until we got hearts we were too. He had been able to track us and take Nemesis to other worlds and used me to get himself into Celeste's dreams. I'm greatly sorry for that now." I stared dumbfounded like everyone else at the whole thing. A few other people seemed ashamed as well. "Anyway, through his studies, he created something that can be a large danger to Celeste. And I mean large." Everyone tensed up and Nexas hid his face in my arm whimpering. "He mutated Nemesis so that he can directly send souls to her and force hearts out. I don't know how well it works though, but he used Vexen to create it as far as I know." A man with a scar across his face spoke up. He looked like a pirate to me.

"If you were leaking information, does Wesker actually know about Celeste then?" A small blond boy shook his head. "Only people with hearts know thankfully. But he does know, and has known where our base is for a while, it's amazing he hasn't attacked at all but we need to be extra cautious since all that has happened." I was having a lot of trouble breathing. Not only was I in a badly weakened state, but I was a target. This Nemesis sounded menacing. "So we need to take extra cautious with Celeste." I didn't see who said that because I was too busy looking at the floor. Someone touched my shoulder and I jumped. "Are you okay?" A blond boy with a mullet hairstyle looked at me worried. In a panic I ran out of the room with Nexas held tightly to me as I cried down the hallways. I could hear them all call my name as I ran but I didn't care, I wanted to find somewhere quiet to think.

After running for a while and flying a little bit I found a crawlspace that lead to a secret room. I hoped I'd be left alone long enough and proceeded to cry my heart out into Nexas's fur. "Why me? What did I do to have things turn out like this?" I laughed bitterly "Most people would cry for their mommy in this situation. But I don't even know who the hell she is!" Nexas started licking my neck lightly calming me down. I hugged him tightly. "I don't know who you're supposed to be little guy, but I can't help but feel safe with you." The little fox yipped slightly. "I wish I knew what you were saying." It whined slightly like it really did want to tell me something. I laughed a bit.

After a few days of hiding I decided to go out and look for someone, I found it odd that I didn't get hungry at all, but I pushed it as part of my abilities. I also felt terrible for worrying everyone but it's understandable, at least in my mind. I walked around a corner and came face to face with a long silver haired man. My first instinct was to run right back to my crawlspace but he spoke first. "You cause too much trouble, even with your memories gone. I guess personality stays no matter what." I glared a bit at him and said the only thing that came to mind. "Fuck off; I have better things to do." He looked at me glaring but he didn't seem to upset, almost like he expected it. "So there is still some of your old self leftover. Come with me, I may as well teach you to fight again." I followed behind him confused as Nexas jumped on my shoulder and growled the man turned around and snarled back at him which made Nexas's fur stand on end as his snarl get more menacing. I put my hand on Nexas's head as a way to calm him down. "Where did you find that rodent?" I glared at him. "I found Nexas, in the base, he hasn't left my side since" I didn't know what his problem was and I didn't really want to find out. But seeing as I had no one else to watch me and me bring in the red zone, I decided to follow until someone else crossed our path. I had no such luck as we exited the base and into a large field. He turned around to look at me.

"Attack me." I stared at him dumbfounded. "What? Attack you with what?" He pointed to my ribbons, "With your scythes" I looked at the ribbons then slowly held my arms out confused. "How?" He looked at me like I was stupid. "Grip the air like you're holding the rods." I complied and sure enough two scythes appeared. The sudden weight threw me off and I tried to shift them. They didn't feel familiar at all and I didn't understand how in the world someone could use them. Suddenly I saw the man charging at me and I quickly threw them up to block his sword. Amazingly I did and managed to keep him stopped for a second. Nexas chose this moment to jump of my shoulder and bite the man as hard as he could in the neck. He then grabbed Nexas and threw him down the field. In a panic I whipped the scythe back and cut my neck and suddenly heard the man start screaming in pain. In a panic I covered my neck and realized the same one was on his neck on the opposite side of Nexas's bite. I winced in pain and then gasped in shock as I realized the wound was closing. I looked at the man who had a small smirk on his face.

"Looks like you do still remember things." I looked towards where he threw Nexas to see him staggering up, "You can heal him too. Just think about it." I quickly ran over to where he stood and bent down. His side was bleeding from where I guessed the man had hit him. I held my hand out to him and thought about the wound healing like mine did. Sure enough he was up and happy again. I smiled softly and then looked back at the man who didn't seem to be caring about his cuts. I didn't want to heal his wound so I got up and started walking back to the castle. "Watch your back carefully." Was all he said as I departed the scene and went back to the base.

I wandered a bit more, looking for anybody, when I bumped into a man that I guessed came from the R.E world Vicki told me about since he didn't seem to fit with the fantasy based people here. "Oh, hello uh…" I looked at the wall behind him to avoid eye contact. "Leon. And I should take you to Roxy." I looked at him quickly. "Oh! Yes! Please!" I suddenly felt very stupid and petted Nexas a bit to distract myself. I followed yet another stranger to a random place, this time a bit more confident as to where it would lead me. After a few more minutes of, what was for me, mindless wandering through pipe filled hallways; I was lead to a small room where Roxy was. She looked up at me with relief spread across her face. "Where did you go?" She asked as she walked up, I had noticed Leon was already leaving. Probably to let everyone know. "Hiding, I just needed to think for a bit." She looked at me sadly before continuing on. "Anyways, we've received info that Vicki's already in the targeted world. So we don't know how long it'll take for her to get back seeing as we don't know where Claire is." I nodded blankly as Nexas hoped to Roxy. "You don't seem like him completely. I wonder if you really are him." He yipped happily and shook his head. "Is that a yes or a no?" I wondered out loud as I wandered out into the hallways again. "Roxy, is there anything we can do to pass the time?" She looked at me. "We could always just go outside and wander around for a bit. I nodded.

On the way out of the building it seemed like Roxy wanted to say something, but never did. Nexas was walking at my heel as we exited and then decided to jump into my jacket and snuggled up with his head against my neck. I smiled a bit at how soft his fur was against my neck. We walked out and around the gardens before heading into the town. "No wonder you and Vicki always stayed at the base! The town is so far away!" I felt a kind of calmness knowing we were going somewhere I hadn't gone before, it was a new place that I hadn't seen before my memory loss.

We entered the town and Roxy instantly ran into the closest store excited that it was something she liked. I laughed a bit as I walked behind into the store. As I walked in I noticed it was a gothic-styled shop and she was off in the corner looking at some skirts. "Anything I can help you ladies with?" I looked around to see a man with short blonde hair and red eyes. "No we're fine." I said as I was about to turn around but he grabbed my hair. I screamed in protest as Nexas growled and got ready to jump. Roxy whipped around and yelled as she charged but he ran forward and kicked her into a wall. As Nexas jumped he grabbed him and whipped him into the wall. I screamed trying to pull out of his grip desperately clawing at the hair trying to reach the pair. I knew I could heal them if I could just reach. "Do you really think I wouldn't know about your little charade? Your friend did plan it out well but I'll always be two steps ahead." I snarled at him as he dragged me out of the store, looking at the bunch of clothes Roxy was buried in. '_I can't do anything, Roxy, Nexas please be safe…wait unless'_ I closed my eyes as I was dragged and concentrated on Roxy and Nexas being healed. "I know what you're doing, but it won't work. You have no soul intake, and don't even think you can take mine. I had my DNA altered, I destroyed my soul." My eyes widened in panic as I started thrashing about wildly and hitting the man desperately with my weakening state. I was getting more and more tired for some reason the more I struggled. "Your powers have been drained for too long Celeste, but I feel generous today." I cringed at his cold gaze. "I'll have Nemesis personally replenish your soul thirst." My eyes widened as a scary mutated man come in. "So that's Nemesis." I stared in shock as I looked at the contraption on his arm. "I had him personally collect souls right here in town. So you better feel appreciated little toxic." I screamed loudly in panic as I thrashed about harder as the looming monster drew nearer. I squirmed out of the blonde man's grip and jump into the aisles, crawling along as fast as I could. I immediately heard Nemesis roar and charge into the racks, the clothes all flying up as he rushed past them. I made it to the pile of clothes Roxy was in and ran up to try and shift through the pile to get to her. But as I went after the first shirt on top I was grabbed by the back of my shirt and thrown into the air. I looked behind me at my attacker as he loaded his gun and shot a beam of light into my chest I flew into a wall as I suddenly felt my energy returning. As I tried to move though I was struck with a sudden pain in my chest as I felt two separate heartbeats emerge. I screamed as they regulated but next thing I know I was hit with a darker beam and the glowing heart flew into the air to be captured by someone in a black robe pulled over their face. As I fell to the ground and staggered to get up, I noticed the corners of my vision were starting to go. In a moment of panic as I felt adrenaline throughout my body I charged forwards releasing my scythes and slashed Nemesis across the chest. He howled in pain as he punched me through a window at the front of the store. As I rolled out onto the street Nemesis was already out advancing upon me. He then kicked me in the gut sending me into the air as he hit me with the light beam again. I tried as hard as I could to get out of it to use the energy to fight him but he blasted me with the dark beam right after. I shrieked as I felt the heart leave me and another robed stranger came in and took it. As I fell a second time, I started to lose hope and just stayed limp as he grabbed me and threw me for a third time, the whole thing going again.

I didn't know where I was, I just knew I couldn't' move because of the pain that was jolting through to every part of my body. As I tried to move my arms to pull myself up I screamed in pain before giving up and falling on my stomach again. I heard a noise as I laid there, the sound of heavy footsteps that made the small pebbles all around my face jump in fright before me. As the shadow loomed over me I turned my head slightly to get a better view. I screamed in fear and with strength I didn't know I had, I got up and crawled as fast as I could away. I was like an animal caught in a trap as it simply walked up and kicked me into the air. I felt like he shattered all the ribs on my right side as I flew into and back out of the air. I was suddenly hit with a bright light and had to close my eyes from the intensity, I suddenly felt my pain disappearing and started to question what this monster's intentions were. That was, until my heartbeat became erratic and the beam turned into a dark one. I felt a terrible pain in my chest as a heart shaped glow came shooting out and a figure appeared out of a dark portal like thing to grab it before disappearing again. By this time I was incredibly frightened. I tried to scream in terror but realized my voice was gone. I was hit again by the light beam and dark beam. I closed my eyes as the process carried out and I fell to the ground. I tried to open my eyes and realized I couldn't see anymore. Most my limbs were unmovable and all I could do was listen to the monster draw closer again. I cried silent tears as I felt my arm get lifted up and used to propel the rest of me into what I would assume was the side of a building, again I felt my energy return and again I felt the indescribable pain of the heart thing being pulled out of me. "Just one more and it'll all be over." A deep voice seemed to growl and coo into my ear at the same time as I lay on the ground crying. I tried to mouth 'why' but I couldn't move anything. I sat there and waited as the final blow was dealt. In the far distance I heard a group of people shrieking the word or name Celeste; though it could have been need rest or some word I couldn't make out. I just felt myself drift from my body; as I faded to darkness.


	49. Chapter 49

"Celeste is dead."

I trembled in fear. "What...? How…? Who…?" My words had a hard time leaving my throat. PJ didn't respond. "_Who killed Celeste_?" I screamed. My voice was much more demanding than before. It appeared that my words caught Erin off guard. Either that, or the scream. Phoenix glowed in my arm, attempting to calm me down.  
"It was Nemesis… And now he's going after you…" I continued to shake in anger.  
"Jill…?" Erin held my arm carefully. I suddenly stopped shaking, my eyes glowing with a venomous fury.  
"Wesker… This just got personal," I hissed. The hair on my neck rose with my anger.  
"You need rest though," Erin retorted. PJ remained silent for a moment.  
"No! This is going to end here and now!" I yelled, standing up and heading for the door. Erin grabbed me and pulled me into Dante's jacket. I had no idea how she pulled it out so fast, or where she had been storing it.  
"Stay there. You need to calm down," PJ ordered. I screamed in rage, struggling as Erin bound me in the jacket. She put me on the ground and let me roll, knowing I wouldn't use my powers against her.  
"I need to go after him! I need to-" I was cut off by a slap to my face.  
"Not until you calm down," Erin hissed. I shut up right away.  
"Please… just do it with a cool head. You won't get far if you go in now," PJ reasoned. I sighed and nodded.  
"Okay, you two win… But only for a little while…" Erin shut off the ear piece for me and went to lie down again. I curled up slowly, crying myself into deep sleep.

"Vicki… Wake up, child…. Please….?" The voice was so familiar. Like, I knew the woman it belonged to. I opened my eyes to see that I was back in my human form, something that now felt so alien to me. It shifted to the form I was most used to.  
"You're awake…" the woman chuckled. She hugged me from behind. Her touch was warm and calming.  
"Aina…?" I finally asked. Tears were welling up in my eyes, uncontrollably wanting to fall.  
"Yes…" she responded. I turned around fully to look at her, only to bury my head in her shoulder. She smiled softly and pet my hair.  
"It's alright child. You are safe…" I nuzzled her as she sung the Hymn of the Fayth softly in my ears. I shook, trying to take her words to heart.

Eventually, I calmed down long enough to ask something.  
"I'm going to lose Erin now… aren't I?" The question didn't even seem to catch her off guard.  
"I can't tell you. I would if that wouldn't change the future… but…" I was able to sense that she had something to get off her chest.  
"So telling me could either save her or kill her?" My statement was a little on the flat side.  
"Or kill you." I never knew Aina could go that flat before hearing it for myself.  
"…. Blunt." I held back a snicker. Aina pushed me away a little so I could look up at her.  
"On a completely different matter, one thing you need to know is that Nemesis is a lot stronger than when Jill fought him in Raccoon City the first time." She was too serious for me at that moment, sending a shiver up my spine.  
"It's the same one?" I questioned, inching away a little.  
"Yes and no. This one is a clone. But even clones have their flaws." She seemed to retain a certain level of flat in her voice. 

"… Okay… But what about Roxy…?" My eyes shifted to the ground, then back up to hers.  
"Roxy has already distanced herself from you for your protection. It was harder for Erin to do the same," she sighed softly as she let me in on what she could without killing me.  
"So that's why Erin is constantly involved?" I raised my brow lightly, almost pulling my eyes away from her stare.  
"Yes… but you should know that Wesker is more powerful as well. He has done something to change his soul. He somehow made it so he could live on without his soul being in his body." I almost laughed. I couldn't believe she said that about a non-magical being. But looking into her eyes, I realized it was no joke. I blinked a couple times, coming up with the proper reaction.  
"How the hell did he manage that?" That response was not that much better than the first. Wide eyed with shock, I seemed to have scared her. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out a couple times, meditating my mind so I could think a bit clearer.  
"I have no idea. Not even Dailen'té can come up with an interesting, but impossible idea." Honest and to the point was not Aina's style. At least it functioned. But then there was my disbelief of Dailen'té not coming up with an insane answer.

"Really?" I had to make sure she wasn't pulling my leg.  
"Really." Nope. She's serious.  
"Have you tried giving her the herbs from here? Might help…" Aina sighed at my suggestion.  
"No. We're trying to cut the habit," she replied simply.  
"Ah, right." I calmly looked up at her. It wasn't until now that I noticed that her eyes were exactly like Yuna's now, meaning she must have completed her quest prior to this. Aina smiled half heartedly at me.

"Is there something else I should know…? After all this isn't a visit. I can tell that by the fact that you're here. Especially since you-" I began.  
"I caused all of this… for both you and Celeste… I'm sorry…" She held me again, whimpering. I sighed. Now the roles were reversed.  
"Why Aina… Why did you cause this…?" I had to know, and ironically this was the best state to ask her this type of question.  
"I… took you two away… from your home worlds… And that's how Wesker found out about you two. I shouldn't have separated you… from your true families…" she choked on her own words.  
"Why did you separate us?" A calm even tone escaped my throat. It felt so unnatural. But I couldn't help but note the concerned undertone I retained.  
"You both are the 'keys' to unlocking, and locking, your worlds. Things also cannot progress without your souls being in your respective worlds. Wesker can manipulate souls now… and he will probably try to use that to his advantage," spoke a much more motherly voice. Morganna slipped her hand onto our shoulders, causing us to jump. The half dragon sorceress just smiled at us. "Aina, it's time to let her wake up," she cooed. Aina nodded, wiping away her tears.  
"Aina… don't feel bad… You were doing what you thought was best… I'll give him a hell of a fight when I see him… for all of us." I smiled as the dream world started to go black. The last I heard from them was a simple "Thank you".

I woke up, curled next to Erin. Her arms were around me, causing me to squirm.  
"You're awake now?" she cooed.  
"Yeah… Did Nemesis scare you or something?" I joked, struggling against the jacket again. She just chuckled.  
"You were crying in your sleep," she explained, sitting up.  
"I see… any idea why? Or do I actually talk in my sleep?" I asked, emphasizing my struggle.  
"Not a word. And be quiet for a moment. Yeah?" her voice had gotten a bit arrogant as she answered her phone, "I'm here, I'm here… Yeah… She's with me right now… No, that one's in the city… Wesker, she knows. That's why she's with me. The other-… As I was saying, the others don't even have a clue. Do you realize how hard it is just to keep Jill in the dark?" She pulled me up, causing me to groan, and she slapped her hand over my mouth, making it seem as though she had captured me. I glared at her with annoyance and growled behind the hand. Fortunately, that was my most human growl yet. I struggled a bit more violently to get out of her grip.  
"She's not happy. Don't worry, I have a technique to make her forget." I screamed into her hand. My kick seemed to actually hit her leg, making her dig her nails into my cheek. My struggling got weaker, since I was frightened by the sudden jolt of pain she gave me.  
"Be quiet. I'm on the phone," Erin hissed. There wasn't any true venom in her voice, but I nodded nonetheless.  
"Okay, I got it. Vicki's supposed to be in the city, but knowing her, she's on her way here already. Yeah yeah… I'm on it." She hung up the phone finally and held me tightly. She sighed and snapped her fingers in front of my face.  
"Just pretend its hypnosis… okay?" she whispered. I grunted, drooping my eyes.  
"You never heard the conversation I had on the phone. You were asleep the entire time, understood?" I nodded slowly. She lay me back down on the floor.  
"Now, I'm going to knock on the floor, and you will fall back asleep. By the time I wake you up, you will have completely forgotten the conversation. This will be the only time you fall asleep to this sound. Now…" She knocked on the floor. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing.

A couple of minutes later, she rubbed my shoulder to 'wake' me.  
"Ugh…. What… happened?" I groaned.  
"You hit your head a couple of times on the floor, Jill," Erin lied.  
"Oh…" I sighed.  
"You want to talk about it?" she offered, untying the sleeves. I just remained silent. She craned her neck to see my face. I shook my head and she backed off. I felt her shrug. I pulled away and stood up. My silence was creating an awkward tension for Erin.  
"Come on, Rin. Let's get going," I sighed. The tension slipped away as she realized that it was just an act.

We headed out and eventually found a room with a password written on a piece of paper. I sighed as I took it, walking away with a shotgun we found. Ironically, I almost became a 'Vicki Sandwich' because of it. I resolved never to make that joke again in front of Jill.  
"To the other side of the mansion?" Erin asked. I nodded to her and led her through a back route that took us upstairs.  
"But if I'm right, we need at least three passwords," I explained. She nodded. The door at the end of the back route took us upstairs. I turned and went into the door on my left, rather than the door on the other side of the mansion. Erin raised a brow, realizing that it was like the first Resident Evil and Lost in Nightmares had crossed and become the same situation. I slipped past the zombies easily into another room. This bedroom felt like a death trap, so I just grabbed what I could and left. I returned to the main hall, listening to the walls collapse inside the hall and room I was just in.  
"Enough with the squishing already," I groaned, handing the magnum to Erin.  
"I guess they decided to collapse again," she sighed, handing the magnum back, "You need this more that I do. Keep it." I nodded.  
"Okay. Thanks." We went over the catwalk to the door on the opposite side.  
"Oh look a hole. Shall you jump?" Erin stated with some slight sarcasm.  
"No, you're going to throw me over," I replied with the same tone. She just chuckled and hoisted me over to the other side.  
"I'll meet you in a sec." I nodded and vanished behind the door. Silently, I wondered why she did that, since we would need to be downstairs anyways. I wandered the upper half and found yet another gun, but ignored it. I already had three, and no inter-dimensional pockets to hold them all. I sighed and looked down over the railing. Erin was picking up a couple things from down below. I shrugged and looked to the other side of the catwalk. There was a statue. I stared at it for a moment, then shook my head. It vanished. I blinked out of confusion.  
"Either I'm getting too old, or I'm delusional…" I muttered, remembering the fake Kenneth corpse. To say the least, these delusions were getting on my nerves. I walked to the next door, finding the last password.  
"Rin! It's up here!" I called. She looked up with a nod, rushing up the stairs and over to the door I came in. a loud thump echoed through the hall, just as she reached me. "What was that?" I yelped. Erin noted my paranoia and picked me up again. "Calm down Jill. If it's what I think it is, I'm faster than it," she cooed. I nodded, relaxing only slightly.

She carried me over to the computer on this side of the mansion. As I had thought, three passwords were required. I put them in and walked over to the room that had opened up. Erin pulled me back, going in instead and grabbing what we needed from there. Of course, she shadow jumped out behind me, causing me to yelp again. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the main hall. I noted the Guardian of Insanity that we passed along the way. For a moment, it had looked like Nemesis. I shook my head and kept running.

"What's with Spencer and cranks?" Erin sighed to lighten my mood, of course, much later, when she was going to use a crank.  
"What can I say? He's a man of refined tastes," I nearly chuckled at my own pun. She smirked and went behind the stairs. Now it just seemed to be stuck at Lost In Nightmares. She cranked open the gate for me and I ran to the other side to do the same for her. We walked up to a set of stairs going down. I pulled out the map again and looked to see what was down there. Apparently, it was a short route to an almost tower. I gulped, now getting a bad feeling in my gut. The hall was small, thus making it so one of us would have to trail the other. I let Erin take point, since Jill was originally Rear Security back in S.T.A.R.S. anyways. She led us to another set of stairs, leading up to the tower attached to the mansion. I shuddered, getting the smell of death and blood all the way to the top of the tower.  
"I feel like I'm lost in another nightmare…." I sighed.  
"It's going to be alright Jill," she said in an almost comforting tone. I nodded with another sigh.

We climbed the tower slowly, going into rooms for breaks and hiding from something stalking us. I figured it was a Guardian of insanity at first. Erin, on the other hand, begged to differ. As we climbed the third set of stairs, Erin pulled me into a room and clapped a hand over my mouth.  
"He's looking for you…" she whispered into my ear. I raised a brow at her until it clicked. What else would chase Jill Valentine? Nemesis. Who do I look like? Jill. Put two and two together, and the result involves me hiding. Erin shoved me into a pile of clothes and hid herself. I was able to watch Nemesis walk by, scanning the area for me. I held back a gasp, looking at his new weapons on his arm. Just a quick look told me that the contraption in his possession was what killed Celeste. I had no idea what it did, but right now, I knew I would be dealing with him later. I just had to figure out how to destroy it first, when I got there. _If_ I got there… It wasn't until he left the room that Erin pulled me out of the clothes pile. "Do you know what that is?" I asked.  
"What is?" she responded.  
"The device on his arm." My response was fairly flat.  
"That?" She raised a brow at me, as if she didn't see it. I simply nodded to her. "For once, I have no idea."  
"That's not good…" That must have meant that Wesker didn't trust her enough.  
"No, it's not…" There was a slight sense of tension now, but I couldn't pin why. I figured it must have been Wesker's trust issues. "Come on. We should check upstairs," she pulled a sock off my shoulder and gave me Jill's beret back. I put it on and fixed it, following her lead.  
"Roger."

It seemed like hours since we started to climb the tower. This place had a feel of all of the Resident Evil games in it, and strangely in chronological order to the storyline. I had a few more flashes of things Jill saw as I looked around. I looked over to Erin. She seemed unaffected by all of this. I brushed these visions off as bits and pieces of Jill's memory that I must have taken with me when I was abruptly woken up. I noticed that Erin had stopped in front of me. I trailed her gaze to a pair of double doors looming over us in a deadly silence. Erin had become a bit off all of a sudden. I figured it was simply because Wesker was probably behind these doors.  
"He's mocking us…" She hissed.  
"I know. It's a trap… but if we don't go in… The others…" I muttered. Erin just nodded to me. We soon pressed our backs against the doors, listening for any movement inside. Erin soon gave me a nod, and I reluctantly nodded back. I was a little nervous, to say the least. We rammed the doors open, aiming at the man inside as we entered.

"Wesker! This ends here and now!" I growled. Wesker turned around and slid his sunglasses down his nose to see me better.  
"My my Jill… It seems that you have switched with Lightless…" he sneered, mocking my attempt to protect myself, "Or were you pulled out of Jill's mind a little too soon, leaving her vulnerable? And you Rin…" He turned to look at her in the eyes, "You showed such promise… But now you are just like Jill was, a mere tool to get what I desi-"  
"_Enough!_" I screamed, firing at his head with fury. He smirked as he dodged each bullet, quickly getting closer. He looked like he was about to use a move known as Rhino charge on us, so we dodged, but I realized too late that it was merely to separate us. Thinking as fast as I could, I jumped into the air to drop kick him, but of course, he saw that coming and blocked. Wesker grabbed my ankle and threw me into a wall. I coughed, trying to regain myself. He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me up against the wall again. I struggled, even though his grip was only tightening. I felt it being ripped away. Erin was locked in a fist fight with Wesker, only getting blocked. He grabbed her fists and twisted them. She cringed, but didn't fail to land a strong kick to his leg. He smirked creepily at us. I grabbed my gun again and fired once again, just to make it easier on Erin. Erin pulled her sword off her back, which I only noticed now was Rebellion, and swung it down at him, only to be thrown away into the glass bookshelves. I punched him, just as he disarmed me. He hit me twice in the gut, not giving me a chance to even recoil as he grabbed my neck and slammed me across a table. I flew off and hit the ground hard, coughing from my beating. I rolled, trying to get to my feet as fast as possible. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Erin recovering. I shook my head to clear it. Wesker grabbed me by the throat, and held me in the air.  
"Everyone knew I needed you… But who said I needed you alive?" he told me smugly. I gasped, wriggling for my life.  
"_Jill!_" came Erin's desperate cry. I looked away from the enevitable, almost crying in pain. But it never came. Instead, I hit the floor with a grunt, as if he was forced to drop me. Time seemed to slow, with just enough time for me to pay attention to each one of my senses. I listened to the smash of glass. The taste of blood dripped onto my tongue. I could feel air and cloth as it passed me by. I could smell Wesker and Erin getting further away. And finally, as I ran to the edge, ready to dive down, I saw Erin and Wesker hit the surface of a body of water.  
'No… No… No!' I thought, denying what I just saw with my own eyes, even as I screamed her name and reached out to her desperately. But, sadly… I would know no such luxury of finding Erin… Not in that water… even if I tried…


	50. Chapter 50

'_Why am I falling? Or am I falling? I feel sensation, but no air seems to be passing by. Is this a dream? Or what it's like to die? What happened to me? I can't remember anything at all, just being here. Have I been in this dark place my whole life? The longer I wait the more I hope to whatever that it's a dream and I'll wake up soon.'_

"Look! Brother I found her!" '_Well, I guess I'm not alone. But I wish whatever it was would stop poking me.'_

"Insanity, leave master alone, she's still recovering." A deeper voice said to the higher one. '_Insanity, what an odd name, if it is indeed, her real name.'_

"But I gave her part of my heart! She must be healed all better by now!" '_Definitely a child or a really annoying adult.'_

"And I'm positive she'll be all better. But she's been through a lot. We need to let Celeste wake up on her own." '_Is my name Celeste?'_

"Then why are we here Shift?"_ 'What odd names, how can I be the master to such strangely named people?'_

"To make sure it's uninterrupted and she comes to okay." I heard footsteps draw closer, and the loud noise for some reason sent a large terrifying fear through my body, my breath hitched violently. Then the footsteps stopped suddenly. The deep voice sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry we couldn't stop Nemesis master." '_Who's Nemesis?' _

"Is master awake? I want her up now so I can finally see her in the flesh!" The high voice squeaked. I closed my eyes tighter.

"Looks like she's awake. Open your eyes master, and breathe once again. Then we'll explain everything as much as we can." I opened my eyes and was blinded by a bright soothing light.

I snapped awake gasping violently as I felt air in my lungs for what seemed like the first time in my life. I stared up at the ceiling as I started to get a feeling of my surroundings.

I was sitting in a large queen sized bed with a few large thick blankets, making my body really warm but not uncomfortable. The room also consisted of a dresser, shelf, and desk and some other random items. The whole room itself was pretty untidy, books and papers scattered about and the occasional game case. I sat up looking around blankly at the walls with all the pictures scattered on the walls. As I turned my head to the corkboard on the opposite wall I saw a picture of a girl with some kind of headpiece and tears just started to streak my face.

"Why am I crying?" I mused out loud to myself as I became aware I had no clothes on. I quickly wrapped a blanket around myself as I went to the dresser and pulled out the top clothes on each drawer and got dressed. I walked to the door, that had a hand drawn poster of many strange weapons mixed with scythes, and opened it onto a hallway that seemed too stretch on for a while with doors littering both sides. I carefully closed the door as my panic rose and I tip toed down the hallway listening carefully to any odd noise. I finally made it to a flight of stairs and proceeded to climb down. When I reached what looked like a large front door I hesitated. Where was I supposed to go from here? And was this my only safe place? Or my worst nightmare?

"Where are you going master!" I turned sharply around and saw a large spider like woman, with a purple spider body and blood red eyes. I screamed in fear and bashed through the door sprinting down the road as fast as my legs could carry me. I looked behind me to find no one there and instantly had a large wave of loneliness and started crying as I hid behind a tree.

"Master, you shouldn't run away, there are dangerous mutants around and you don't have any memories to protect you." I looked up in fear as I saw a woman covered in barbed wire and bandages, she wore steel-toed boots and had a large rocket launcher on her back. I whimpered pathetically as I curled up against the tree. The woman looked at me confused as she looked behind me. "Shift, Insanity, maybe you two should take care of her since she seems scared of most people and you were the ones to lead her back into the world of the living. I doubt she'd follow me to Red and Drew." I looked behind me to see a large tall man with a large surreal top hat and a little girl with stitches and bandages on her arms. I covered my face shacking violently. The loud footsteps drew closer like in my dream and I started bawling and screaming, thrashing out in front of my blindly.

Shift sighed again as he bent down slowly. "I know that you've been through a lot master but-"

"Stop calling me that!" I screamed "I can't be your master! You look like you could tear me apart without blinking!" Shift sighed again as he stood up.

"You're our master because you created us. We are all parts of your heart." I stared at him dumbly. He bent down and picked me up. "The sooner we take you back and get your memories back, the better." I just sat there blankly as he took me back into the building I ran from.

"Brother, why didn't her memories come back when we revived her?" I looked down at the girl with disinterest. I just felt drawn away from everything, filled with both fear and anticipation.

"Because no matter what memories we hold for her, we can't have them all. They are still within her being, even if it's a remodeled one from our hearts." I looked at him.

"Am I not the same person?" He looked at me, his face showing nothing.

"The body you are in now is not the one you died in, it's still back in Radiant Garden. The rest will be explained when your memories are back." I stared at him scared.

"There are two of me? Then… Am I a clone?" I mused to myself as we went into the hallway, I looked into a passing mirror and saw my face. What shocked me most was my eyes were abnormal, with crosses in them. "What am I?" I said out loud as we walked into a room different from the one I was in before.

"She's here." Shift set me down and herded Insanity out of the room with him. I looked at the back of a woman's head with light blue hair. She was wearing orange pants and a white shirt which looked kind of odd to me, since it was the exact opposite to my blue jeans and black shirt I was just made aware I was wearing.

"Celeste, the woman I tried to protect, we finally meet in person." The woman turned around and I gasped. The woman looked like me but colours were inverted. And her cross eyes we're white in pupil, black in Iris, and grey in the cross. I backed away quickly.

"Who are you?" I backed into the wall. She looked at me smiling.

"Don't worry, I can shapeshift. And for the longest time I was pretending to be you to keep Wesker's other off of you. But that's not why you're here. I'm going to get your memories back." I looked at her confused.

"How are you going to manage that? Hypnotism?" I crossed my arms in doubt to hide my fear.

"No, I'm going to enter your mind to find it. And you'll come with me." I looked at her blankly.

"Are you for real? This has to be fake." She smiled at me.

"Oh it's quite easy, and I'll do it as long as you're willing. Do you want to start?" I nodded. "Good, close your eyes." I complied and the next moment I was unconscious.

I woke up again in a field of grass under an apple tree with only about ten feet of land around me. Behind the tree was a path leading to a castle with a broken wall that uncovered a graveyard. Upon further inspection I guessed this whole place was on an island.

"We'll venture into the far reaches of your mind to get them back. My guess is they're at the bottom levels of the castle." She started walking along the side to get to the front, the sunset casting a blood red light across everything, as if warning us.

We made it to the large front door and the woman effortlessly pushed it open. The inside had a staircase that split to go two different directions leading to three doors on each side. The bottom level we were on had four doors on either side of a large stature of an angel falling from grace.

"Such a complicated mind. But I guess I have to expect it from the chosen Death Angel. Nothing about you is simple." I stared at her confused

"Death Angel, what?" She shook her head saying that I'll know soon and walked into the third door to the right.

"It's going to take while, but Drew gave me a small idea where to go, since they all know you better than I do. Too bad Labyrinth can only send people to her mind, worlds easier if she could do it." I just shook my head and followed silently, believing that everything would be explained in time.

We walked through the door into a large ballroom like room gone nightmare. The pillars along it were cracked and crumbling and chains were along all the doors and windows. The railings were all wrapped in barbed wire and it looked like the whole thing was covered in blood. I saw what I knew were bloody handprints along the walls as the woman stopped in the middle of the room and tapped the floor with her foot. Then without warning she slammed her foot down and a secret passage was made visible. She looked around. "This place must have been so pretty while you were awake. I can't wait to see it rebuilt along with its master." She walked down the passage stairs and held her hand out. "There will be enemies down here so I need you so stay close." The arm she was holding out turned into a claw with long sharp digits.

The area below was even more morbid than the ballroom. The place was lined with cobwebs and skeletons attached to the walls, their grinning faces displaying their painful glee and beckoning for another to join in. I stayed close to the woman as the door ahead started shaking as something shook at it. As we neared it a large, deformed bleeding hand shot out and grabbed me by my hair. As it pulled me towards it I could smell blood and decay. It gripped me close as its long tongue came out and licked my neck.

"Master came home" It cooed in a growling voice. "How delicious her frightened flesh is." I screamed as thrashed at the hand. I whipped around and bit deep into the soft dead flesh.

"Not today!" The woman stabbed the being in the face as it screamed and recoiled. I managed to tear a piece of its arm off and I spit it out. I ran down the hall a bit to throw up from the smell and taste. "That was an inner demon, you don't need to worry since they'll be locked up and can't get you. Just stay away from the doors." I nodded as I followed behind her again. We walked down another flight of stairs and as we entered the level we caught sight of a woman at the other end.

"How the hell did she get here!" The woman instantly ran after her as she fled. I stood there not sure what to do. I looked over to my left and found an old wooden stick. Not very helpful but it'll do for now I figured. I inched my way forward and turned the corner to see a flight of stairs at the end. As I cautiously my way down I saw that there was a door down at the bottom. As I made my way closer I also saw that there was no doorknob or lock. I stared at it intently till I felt myself grabbed from behind.

"How did you survive?" A deep male voice hissed in my ear. In a panic I swung the stick up and clubbed my attacker in the head. As he released me I went to swing at them again but they caught it in a flash and broke it in half without trying. I stared at the attacker frightened and ducked under him as I ran up the stairs screaming. He was on me in an instant and kicked me into a wall, causing it to collapse. I was too weak to move and I stared at the man through half lidded eyes as he drew closer. "I should have killed you myself instead of Nemesis." The name sent a wave of fear through me and I wasted the last of my strength into a scream.

"Celeste! Use your blood to summon! Call a creature to aid you like Insanity!" Perplexed by what I was being told I thought about a large wolf to come and save me. I opened my eyes to the sight of a large grey wolf attacking the man and throwing him down the hall. The woman ran up to me with a jar of glowing lights in her hand. "I need you to eat these and heal your wounds. Just concentrate." I complied as I felt my wounds close. "Now hurry up and run down those stairs, you'll faze through it and everything will come back!"

"Not if I can help it." The man ran down the hall and tackled her down it with her. As he got up to go after me he was attacked by the woman and the wolf came up and motioned for me to get a move on. As soon as I was seated he bolted down the stairs as fast as he could and vanished into smoke causing me to fly through the door into total darkness.

Suddenly, I was blinded by what looked like films as they all flashed before me before flying into my head. Everything that I had forgotten now came back to me as I screamed in shock.

I jolted awake as I saw I was in the same room as before I was thrown into my dream place. I looked at the shifter and asked what now was in my newly revived mind.

"Who's other are you? And why are you my opposite?" She smiled at me, and it looked kind instead of with pity like before.

"I'm Claire's other and I was pretending to be you to lead Wesker's other, the woman you saw me chase, from getting you. When you 'died' I changed colours-" I cut her off laughing.

"Wesker's other is female?" I doubled over in laughter. I don't know why it was so funny but it just was.

"Anyways." She continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Wesker, thinking I was your other assumed that you only had one, if he saw you had more he would have known you could be revived and would have his other try to kill them all. Once you died though and it was too late. I decided to rub salt in the wounds to show you were alive." She looked down. "Sadly it might have been a horrible mistake since he caught up quickly and attacked you." I smiled at her.

"It's okay we all do things impulsively." I walked to the door. Anyways, Drew wanted to talk to me about something?" She snapped up and looked at me.

"Yeah, tell you how you're alive and the benefits of it." She led me out to where Drew and the others were.

We entered a small room and the whole group was there. I instantly felt ashamed for freaking out on Sophie since she always feels out casted being a spider humanoid. I smiled brightly and sat down next to her. Drew stood up.

"Master, first of all, welcome home and back to the world of the living. Now about how you're back." He walked around a little bit out of habit. "Because you have so many others unlike other people, we were able to each sacrifice a little bit of all our hearts to bring you back without damaging ourselves permanently. Now we had Shifty here," The shifter growled at her nickname. "Pretend to be your other while we worked on bringing you back. But it seems Wesker already knows you're alive. Now here's the bad part; we can't do this again. This revival is a onetime thing and would fail horribly if we were to even try. But your new heart is also still being built and for now we're in an almost powerless state. There is a plus though, while you're heart is using ours, it's also using our powers like what was shown when you used Insanity's blood summon powers, while yours are still building. So you can't eat souls either; you'll have to draw power a small amount from souls that are within physical reach like Red and Shizara, but unlike them you can use both of them as to not destroy souls without a trace. Also, temporarily of course, you'll need to eat proper food again like everybody else." I frowned a bit at this. After so long without food I doubt I'd be able to eat it so easily.

"And anyways, you'll have to travel to the dead waste to get your weapons, and then we'll get you out of here by gummi ship, since we know the coordinates to Radiant Garden now because you're here." I nodded and walked out. "Thank you all so much. I'm going to head to bed. I don't really feel like eating until tomorrow." And with that I walked out and back to the replica of my room on Earth I woke up in.

_I stood in the ballroom of the castle again but this time it was alive, the railings were light grey and shining brightly in the light of the now calming sunset. The floor was lined with a dark blue carpet and the pillars were littered with ivy vines, creeping their ways to the picture covered walls. I let in a deep breath feeling almost as much peace as I could. Happily enjoying my first good dream in a while, until it all turned back into the dark room again and Wesker came into view, glaring at me through his dark shades. _

"_To think I miscalculated, but alas, I'll turn the tables yet." The whole scene melted and I was thrown into a large room surrounded by ocean. "Look familiar? You and your little boyfriend loved Rapture didn't you?" I growled at him at the mention of Sean. "Touchy touchy, when I spent all this time keeping him alive and safe." The curtains behind him opened to show Sean in a cage. I felt my growing heart stop beating for what felt like an eternity as I stared at him in shock. I completely forgot Wesker was nearby as Sean was finally able to talk first._

"_I've lost so fucking much, I've been so devastated, so damaged. I've lost my home, my life and my love in what seems to be the blink of an eye. Am I really looking into your beautiful eyes again?" I felt tears fall as I stared at him looking and taking it all in. His hair looked like someone messily cut it out of necessity but it was still short-ish and well kept. And luckily it looked like he was still being looked after health wise. But in a flash, the curtain fell back down and he was taken away from me again. I felt my rage rise as my eyes glowed and my black and white wings spread out. I looked at Wesker and said in the same deep voice as the time in Atlantica: "Where is Rapture? Tell me or I will destroy your other and your little Nemesis pet." He smirked at me and walked towards the curtain. "The coordinates are with my other, she'll give them to you on your way to Shizara, if, you go alone that is." I growled as I turned away. "Fine you have a deal. But if anything happens to him while I'm gone, you will regret it dearly." He just laughed as the scene dissolved and I silently cried watching the curtain Sean was behind dissolve too._

After explaining what happened and a large argument with Hunter and Drew, I set out to the Dead Wastes to meet Shizara and her reapers to gather my stuff. I was on edge the whole time as I walked towards my destination. What I was told was it would take a day to get there and a day to get back meaning I'd have to spend the night there. Luckily, none of the mutated others came after me as I walked down the pathway. I had a lot to think about as I wandered all day. Like who was my family? Were they still here? And do they remember me? And what was Wesker planning? I could never get ahead of him and it bugged me to no end.

"Celeste." I turned around to see a woman with Wesker's blond hair in tight business suit attire with glasses and a briefcase. I sniggered as she walked up. "I have the coordinates in here, take it and be on your way." She turned to leave and as I turned I saw an orange blur zoom past and Wesker's other scream. I turned around to see a gun fall and Nexas digging his teeth into Wesker's other's arm.

"Trying to be sneaky bitch?" I growled as my anger rose. In a fit of anger I summoned Violet's four bladed chain scythe and whipped it at her slicing across her stomach, not deep enough to kill. "Take that as a warning you psychotic piece of shit." I hissed as Nexas jumped onto my shoulder. I pet his head as I turned and continued to walk away from the now injured woman. "Thanks Nexas, I owe you one." I smiled as I walked past a small tree.

"Don't mention it; just make sure you save Sean." I looked at him and laughed.

"Why couldn't I guess you talked?" He just nuzzled my neck softly.

We finally arrived at the center of the Dead Wastes well after night fell across the land and went into the large castle to meet up with Shi who guided us to the main chamber that Shizara resided in. As we walked through the door I saw that Shizara was still hidden in shadows. I smiled softly.

"Long time no dreams." I said as a greeting. She got up and made herself visible.

"You have no idea how long most of us have waited to quite literally meet our maker." I saw a hint of a smile through the shadows of her bangs and looked around.

"Do all I need is my stuff? Or is there something else?" She smiled more visible.

"Well, we also have the information of your birth parents but I kept it secret because I know you might not want to know until after it's all over. Your things however are right there." She pointed to a trunk I quickly took my scythes, guns, and pouch out of.

"It's so surreal, all of it, even now. But I will wait till after to get family out of the way." I looked up at her as she drew closer.

"As you wish master." I got up and gave her a quick hug as I walked out and followed Shi to where I would be sleeping for the night. As I walked in though my stomach growled loudly. I looked at Shi as she silently left to get food.

"I forgot to eat today, I'll need normal food and I keep forgetting." Nexas looked at me.

"You'll fall back into habit." He said as he wagged his tail and hopped into the bed to sleep. After my meal I followed suite and I fell into an instant sleep curled up close around the only piece of Sean I could get; half of his soul.

_I was in a dark room, filled with many curtains like the one that Wesker had hidden Sean behind. They all ran down a long never ending corridor and I slowly advanced down it. The further I got the more the curtains seemed to come alive, nipping at my heels and dancing with each other in mocking play around me. As if taunting 'He's so close but you can't do anything about it, you could see him but never touch him' The words repeated over and over again, getting louder and louder as the curtains insane dance reached the highest point. And with no warning, they all fell to the floor around me and Sean stood a while away. I ran up as fast as I could but he kept the same distance from me._

'_Come back!' I screamed as he slowly started fading away. 'Don't leave me again.' I felt my eyes water up._

_Don't lose your light; for the darkest of shadows were all once light._

_I looked behind me as I was cornered by some sort of demon with long dripping fangs and huge menacing claws. I let out a scream as it swung a claw down and everything faded to white._

_You will be the one to save them from the shadows_

I woke with a start as I jolted up, tossing Nexas to my lap, to his distaste. I shook my head as I got up.

"You talk in your sleep you know." I froze for a second then kept walking. "Just be sure to use your head and it'll be alright." He looked away. "And I can finally see my soulmate again." I kept walking as I pondered to myself silently.

'_If I'm connected to my others is Sean connected to his?'_ I made note to ask Nexas later.

I rounded the corner as I came face to face with Splint. The woman regarded me with a quick. 'Welcome home master' and went back on her way. I actually preferred this castle much more than Radiant Gardens seeing as it was much more old style and neat, not to mention a bit smaller and even though it was full of tainted souls, felt much more at home for me.

I finally found Shi who was walking with a new pair of clothes. I stared at them oddly.

"I'm sorry master the only clothes we have are some of Allei's old ones, I tried to make them as decent as possible." I smiled as I looked at them. "They'll do just fine, thank you Shi." I smiled at the emotionless woman as she walked away. I scuttled back to my room and ran into the bathroom attached to it to shower.

I walked back out and looked at myself with a deadpanned look. 'Decent' as they called it, consisted of a one-sleeved shirt cut diagonally, just covering the side of my chest. It had a picture of a heart with a skull in it and the sleeve was held together with safety pins and to cover more I had a small tank top underneath. Attached to it were two belts that hung on my stomach. The pants looked like a pair of short shorts that had extensions chained to them to cover more. I was careful to make sure my behind was nowhere to be seen. And I wore some large boots similar to the ones I wore on the first day of all of this. And I added my own spiked collar and item pouch on my side. I sighed as I tied my ribbons to my wrists.

"Better than nothing, figuratively and literally." I mumbled as I took a few extra pairs of clothing and put them in my ultra, super, dimensional pack thingy. "Pouch of awesomeness." I laughed at my own joke for need of a lighter mood. Nexas looked at me.

"I think they'll be willing to hand over better clothes just in case." I nodded as I walked out to eat my first breakfast in almost a year.

Breakfast was okay and I managed to get a few more clothes I would wear once I was in less comforting company. Pieces of my soul didn't bug me as much so I stayed for now. I waved goodbye as I walked back to the main city of Rahvme. Nexas hopped on my shoulder and looked at me funny. I stared back.

"You realize you can fly still right? And it would have been quicker in the first place?" I hung my head and nodded. "Oops." I smiled as I released my wings and took off. Funny my wings still worked without my powers. It only cut the time by about one fifth and we made it back in the late evening. Everyone seemed happy I was okay because news already was given about my encounter with Wesker's other. I smiled as I was led to the Gummi hangar and set up on one. I looked at all the faces.

"Sorry none of us can go with you. We need to stay here to keep Ramose safe too. But we know you'll be okay." Tounasu's smile seemed to shine brighter than the rest, like she was really glad I came out okay, probably because she felt guilty for being the one to deliver the news so long ago. I looked at Nexas who simply shook his small head. "If I go with you, Sean will know and Wesker will read that and better know when to expect you. I only went to lead you here the first time." I waved as I ran into the gummi and started it entering the coordinates. I waved once more as I was lifted into the air and sped away. I left a few tears slip as I felt all alone for the first time. I wiped them away as I put the gummi on autopilot and looked out into the vast expanse of planets.

Somewhere, everyone I know before all this happened, think I'm dead. And with Wesker knowing I'm alive, they may be at larger risk. For now, I was happy with the fact I knew they'd be okay. Sean however, I had no clue if he has any abilities and he's captive. I just hope to anything he stays in one piece.

"I'm coming Sean."


	51. Chapter 51

"Erin!"

I cried to myself, huddling around myself. Obviously, I wasn't thinking. With Celeste's death so soon, this wouldn't help. In the rush of a near death experience, there was no way that I would have thought two seconds prior that I could stop her. Of course, now I could hear the walls crumbling. I got up slowly and bolted for the door. I back tracked past all of the traps and puzzles. Every monster, I left them alone. Just running. Running for my life. Not thinking that I could fly. It didn't matter. By the time I remembered, I was halfway through. Even in the process of mourning, I knew that a break would have mattered. I couldn't take one. Not now. Now, I needed to be on my best guard. Wesker would survive that fall, but Jill was lucky to survive at all. Erin may be half demon or something, but there was no way I could tell if she would survive nearly drowning. Jill had been racked with bruises. Drowning might be the end of Erin, since she healed too fast. I burst out of the front doors. Of course it would have to be now. I faced Nemesis, with that odd contraption gun on his arm. He raised it to me, as if mocking my emotional state. No. I wasn't going to take this from him. I whipped out my own gun and shot first, dodging his shot at the same time. Both of our shots grazed each others arms. I growled, now remembering why I feared, and hated, this creature so much.  
"S.T.A.R.S…." he hissed.  
"You want S.T.A.R.S…? Come and find them!" I ran back into the forest.

I ran, not looking back. I could hear him shooting down at me as I hauled ass downhill. I pushed myself off a tree and into the air. The light ray hit the tree trunk where I had put my foot.  
'Oh shit,' I thought, continuing through along the branches. He got smart and shot a few of the branches I would have stepped on, causing me to fall. I grabbed the first branch I could and swung myself onto a board that was very conveniently laying there. I struggled to surf along the ground. Fortunately for my speed and balance, the wind decided to rush around me and hold me up. It started to rain, drenching our bodies as we raced down through the forest. A small cliff caught me off guard by throwing me into the air. I clung to the board for dear life. Chancing a look behind me, I noticed Nemesis throttling down the slope right after me.

My board pounded on the ground, almost snapping in half. I gasped in shock as I wobbled on it. Nemesis grabbed his own board and clothes lined me from behind. I chased my board and clung to it in a very cat-like manner. I turned around, keeping close to the board and firing back at Nemesis. One of my bullets hit his board, making him stumble. I turned to notice the one of the evacuation zones were open. I quickly realised it had been abandoned. That only could mean one thing.  
'Shit! They're gonna nuke the city! I'm saying shit a lot now…. Ah well… Think kid think!' I shook my head clear as I hit a wall.  
"Ow…." I felt dizzy for a moment. It seemed like only a second before Nemesis was on top of me. He picked me up and threw me into a different wall. Dust rose around me, giving me the exact amount of cover and time to get the hell out of there. This wasn't a place for a confrontation. Not now.

"S.T.A.R.S!"

It had been a long time since I heard Nemesis last. I had found a boutique with some extra clothes for me to change into. Damn, I missed having decent underwear. My entire body smelt something horrible and for once, ever since this entire thing started, I finally felt _human_ again. I got lucky to find out that whoever owned the shop once lived here, and obviously wouldn't mind me getting cleaned up in their old home. I rinsed the blood, dirt and mud off of my skin in the ice cold water. At this point, I didn't care. While my borrowed uniform was in the dryer, which was surprisingly working, I had a few things to do in here. The first on that list was clean.  
"Shampoo, oh, how I've missed you," I cooed as I rubbed it in my surprisingly oily hair. Back when my hair was curly, it had absolutely no oil. I just didn't produce it. Now, I got oil galore, but even as it was cut short, it felt as though it was still long. After my long-desired shower, I took comfort in knowing no one was here by wrapping myself in a towel that didn't belong to me. I took my gun down the stairs to scrounge around for food. The dryer wasn't done yet with my clothes and wouldn't release them for another half hour, so I had some time before anything was going to happen. Fortunately, the doors were the kind Nemesis couldn't get through. It was the walls I had to worry about.

I snooped in the kitchen, only finding mouldy cheese, cans of vegetables, and a lot of mouldy foods. I sighed as I grabbed a can opener and some canned beans. It was the best I could do with what little I could. There was a small bark behind me. I turned abruptly and saw a hungry Siberian husky. He was full grown, reddish-brown with white markings and beautiful hazel eyes. He walked up to me and nuzzled my leg.  
"Hey there buddy. You hungry too?" I cooed as I ran my hand over his matted fur. He was still strong, well fed, and virus free. He nuzzled me again, very affectionately. I giggled and held him.  
"Alright. I got beans, beans, and more beans. So how's about some beans?" I laughed. He barked happily as I made him an extra two cans of the 'magical fruit'. Normal in an undead city. Now that was abnormal. I poured the beans in a couple of bowls giving one to the mystery dog and eating one myself. I watched him eat as fast as he could. I let out another giggle when we finished at the same time. There was more in the pot, and he still looked hungry, so I gave it to him. He looked at me and pushed it back. We did this a couple times until I just, laughed again. I split it evenly in two bowls again.  
"There, now we're even." He panted and ate his, as I did with mine.

I placed what I could in the sink and walked up the stairs with the dog. He had no collar, so I didn't even have a name for him.  
"Hmm… You need a name…" I said to him, sitting on a bed, "I can't just call you 'the dog'. It's not exactly fair. My name's Vicki, by the way." He jumped up and nuzzled my cheek.  
"My, my. You're affectionate." He licked me, as if to challenge that statement.  
"H-hey!" I laughed, "Cut it out! You're tickling me!" He pinned me and continued to lick my face, making me laugh. When he was done, I had come up with the perfect name for this dog.  
"I know what to call you. I'll call you Kupo Moguro. Kupo for short." He tilted his head, making an odd sound that sounded like 'Aruu?', a sound I had only heard one person make.  
"You remind me of someone. He had a character by that name," I patted Kupo's head, "I love him very much, even now. I really miss him…" I held him, and he nuzzled me again. I lay down after that, cuddling him. This Husky… he was so kind, so gentle. That's what I needed to cope right now. Some Kupo therapy was exactly what I had been looking for.

I woke up to Kupo barking at the door. I groaned as I pulled on my freshly cleaned clothes and grabbed the bag of extra clothing and food. I swung it onto my back and noticed a familiar looking shadow.  
"Kupo! Get away from the door!" I cried in fear. He found me… Nemesis had found me again. Kupo backed away and followed me out the back door. We ran through another building as the monster broke through the walls. I shot behind us and ran to the gas station. "Kupo! Go find her!" I gave him a cloth with Jill's scent on it, "Lead her to me!" Kupo nodded as we split up. I ran up the stairs to the roof, listening to Nemesis follow me up. I jumped to the next roof. Jumping off that side, I landed on the fire escape and dove into a garbage bin. I heard Nemesis land next to the dumpster. Nemesis reached into the garbage and pulled me out. He threw me out onto the street. "S.T.A.R.S…." I struggled to stand. Nemesis picked me up by my throat. I pulled out my magnum out of my back pocket and fired at his head, making him drop me. I got up and ran again. I needed a layout of the city. Only Jill, and the blown up police station, could give me that. Now I needed Kupo to find her, and then find me.

I continued to run for my life, just barely dodging Nemesis at times. I was currently hiding in a department store when someone walked in.  
"Where is she?" This voice was unfamiliar. It seemed like someone I knew, but didn't know at all. I peered around the corner. The figure went around a different corner. The voice seemed to flutter off as I escaped just to come face to face with Nemesis again.  
"Um… bye?" I bolted off into the streets again, listening to him chase me. Something just seemed to snap in me as I turned and kicked his jaw. His one eye seemed surprised as I shot at him with deadly force. He got up and smacked me to the side. I used my momentum to land a flying kick on his chest. I kneed his stomach and shot his sewed up eye. The B.O.W roared in pain before I knocked him down.  
"Jill! Take this!" I looked up to where the voice came from. The person was gone, but there was a grenade launcher just landing on the ground. I grinned as I ran over to grab it. Nemesis stood up sorely. He grabbed my leg just as I took the grenade launcher. I clubbed him with it then fired at his feet, throwing him off balance. His tentacle slapped my face, throwing me to the ground. I got up quickly and fired a round. I was surprised to find out the second round was a grenade full of nitro-glycerine. The monster had just stood up at that point, so it froze his boots in place.  
"How smart of… Carlos?" It finally clicked who that familiar person was. I shrugged it off and fired another round with the magnum at Nemesis's shoulder. He roared in pain. I jumped into the air and slammed my foot across his face. I spun around and kicked his chest, sending him flying backwards. When I finally landed, he simply roared "S.T.A.R.S" and hobbled off for a while. I sighed tiredly and leaned against the closest wall.

"Senõrita, are you okay?" It took Carlos all of twenty minutes to find me.  
"Y-yeah… just tired…" I sighed. If I could fool him for a bit, maybe I could get him out of here. Carlos gave me a once over and picked me up.  
"H-hey!" I looked into his face with confusion.  
"Not now, Jill. You're hurt, and tired. I'll take you to a safe room." He didn't even give me a chance to say anything before he continued, "Last time that happened, I needed to save you. And don't tell me you're not infected again. You need rest, whether you want it or not." I closed my mouth finally and sighed, crossing my arms.  
"Fine, you win." He chuckled at me as he carried me off. "Can I at least walk though? I'm not a damsel in distress…" He chuckled again and let me down.  
"Alright Senõrita, if you insist." I didn't understand what he meant by that until I lost my balance. He pulled my arm over his shoulder and guided me away.  
'Seriously? Oh God… I fell woozy now…' I must have looked it too. I thought Carlos was just playing hero again. Nope, I was actually getting off of my adrenaline high. It wasn't far to the next safe room, fortunately. He lay me down onto the floor carefully, keeping a good eye on me. I was falling asleep again. He noticed this and covered me with a sheet he found.  
"Thank you… Carlos…" I yawned.  
"Anytime, Jill," he said with a smile.

I was feeling awful for the few moments that I was awake. I wasn't even sure why Carlos had returned. Then again, that was Raccoon City. This was a different city. I took a wild guess at saying it was either Fairfield or something I've never heard of before. When I finally felt better, Carlos was gone. I sat up slowly and waited for a few minutes before actually getting up to go. I was a bit more awake now, but I still didn't want to move quite yet. Carlos had left a radar receiver for me. That could only mean one thing. A nuke was coming. Oh course. Cursing my very Valentine luck, I grabbed my weapons and headed for where I hoped an escape chopper would be, or at least a rail gun. The clock tower was on the other side of the city. The rest from here seemed to be bits and pieces of Resident Evil 3, and since I had beaten the game before, this just made it much easier to go where I needed to go. I started up the nearby trolley, heading for the other side of town.

I was aggravated to find a shot down helicopter and a discarded rocket launcher.  
"Of course…." I made my way through the clock tower, which doubled as a church, to the other side so I could make it to the waste facility. I made it through with ease and managed to find a few bits of new ammo for my guns. Thank God for that. Someone had already done the puzzles in the park for me. I thanked Carlos silently, thinking it was more than likely him. I walked through the park, noticing a few things were as if Jill had gone through before me. Maybe she had. I shrugged it off and went straight for the bridge. There were small holes in it, but only along the beginning of my end. Yeah, Jill must have gone through here. Meaning, I could skip right past everything and take Nemesis down in the rail gun room if this turned out to be the way I needed it to. I was careful getting across to my destination.

I went through the already open shutter and found the radio control room. It was a derelict.  
"Warning! Missile approach confirmed. Emergency level D activated." I knew that voice. And that code. I jumped down the already open trap door and dropped down into it. As I ran for my ever loving life, I could hear Nemesis roar.  
"Doesn't he ever give up?" I growled out of frustration. I dodged the remaining zombies as I made my way to what was hopefully the rail gun room. I kicked the door open and shut it quickly. Looking around, I was satisfied to find out that it was the right room. Thank _God_. Unfortunately, I needed to push the buttons back into their respective slots. I sighed as I began to force the battery in. I listened to the monotone voice. I heard some rather gross sounding liquid drop behind me. I turned only to see Nemesis, heavily mutated into his 'third' form. He flipped his quadruped form to face me and roared in a more animalistic manner. I paled and ran for the next battery needed to be pushed in. If it wasn't in order, it wouldn't work. I ran past the rail gun and pushed for my ever loving life. I felt a form of acid hit my leg once it was fully in. I screeched in pain, throwing the already blob-like Nemesis backwards into a wall. Whipping out my magnum, I shot him in retaliation and pushed the next battery in while he recovered. Nemesis grabbed me with a tentacle and threw me away. I gasped for breath as I slammed into a wall. I coughed as I stood up. I ran past him and rammed the battery in.  
"Battery, Connected. Initializing, the System. Executing, Quick Charge program. Preparing to, Fire," the voice chimed again.  
"Music to my ears…" I growled with a grin. I ran back to the second battery and fired at Nemesis to keep him either away from the laser, or keep him in the line of fire. He passed it unfortunately, so I ran around him and through the area that had been cleared. I watched and waited for him to follow. He made it to my side before it fired again, and by that time, he had some cover. I ran through it again and he followed. Unfortunately for him, third time's the charm. The laser blasted right through him. He flailed as he flew into a wall and slid to the ground.  
"Warning! System overheating. Enter, Cool down mode," the computerized voice droned. I cheered in my head and limped for the door. My leg was actually really aching now. I just managed to reload my gun when I heard him crawling towards me again. I hissed and turned around. Nemesis spat acid at me. I dodged as fast as I could. I leaned on my good leg and fired twice before I got up. I limped over to him, firing three more shots. I took a moment to stand over the wailing monster.

"You want S.T.A.R.S…? I'll give you S.T.A.R.S…" I growled before firing the last shot into what was apparently his brain. I sighed in relief as he wriggled and writhed to death. I left him alone in the room, limping away to the heliport as fast as I could. I went into an elevator and pressed the down button. As I limped through the long corridor, which wasn't there in my memory, I was quickly getting swarmed by regular zombies.  
'No way! This isn't how I want to die! No no no!' I panicked, getting caught in the arms of one. What I hadn't realized right off the bat was that they didn't intend on eating me. It dawned on me after I was groped what their true intentions were.  
'S-seriously?' I struggled to the best of my ability. A familiar wind of diamond dust hit the creatures, before they were hit by another. I could hear angry barking as the second creature carried me over. I quickly realized that I was being held by Ifrit from Spira, and that Kupo was standing next to Shiva, also from Spira.  
"K-Kupo!" I held the dog gently. Shiva vanished and Ifrit carried us both to the heliport. Kupo licked my face and I kissed his forehead.  
"Thank you…" I whispered. If huskies could blush, Kupo was doing it right now. While we waited for rescue and Carlos, Ifrit made popcorn for us. My mind began to click as I thought about it. Shiva reappeared with an iced drink for me. Right then was when it dawned on me.  
"Gavin!" I hugged the dog and cried into his fur. Only Gavin would get Ifrit to make popcorn and Shiva to make ice in a drink, especially at a time like this. Gavin licked my face again.  
"Oh, my Prince… I'm so glad you survived…" I sighed. Gavin barked at the Aeons, who vanished with smiles. Ifrit smiling, by the way, is incredibly creepy. Carlos came out with the best news ever. Barry was looking for me again. He landed the helicopter and the three of us got on. I sighed as I leaned back. Gavin nuzzled me and rested his head in my lap. Carlos scratched him behind his ear. I chuckled as Gavin's leg got going.  
"Thanks for saving us Barry," I sighed tiredly. I was actually surprised that Rebecca was already in the helicopter with us. She started working on my leg, causing me to cringe.  
"We could let you two die…" he stated, "They need all of us." I nodded. I saw something coming in the corner of my eye.  
"Here it comes!" Rebecca cried. Barry dodged a missile heading towards us. We rocked as the three missile explosion sent a shockwave that created a crater that was once a city.  
"It's over…" Carlos sighed.  
"For now," I retorted. I knew much better than that. They would be in this game for a long time.

I let Rebecca work on all three of us as slowly as she could. I noticed that I was probably the most hurt out of the three of us. Barry landed near the gummy ship.  
"By the way Carlos, I'm actually Vicki. Jill's down there," I told him, pointing at the real Jill. She was waving at us. Carlos looked between us quickly. Barry laughed.  
"My wings are in my back, so is my tail, and yes, I'm reading your mind. Ow!" I stated, "And yes, Rebecca, I love being a wise ass." I got another chuckle as the young medic blushed from embarrassment. She finished bandaging my leg as the door flung open.  
"You're safe!" Yuna cried, looking the most worried, "Where's Erin?" I looked at the floor.  
"Wesker… Has her now…" I walked out, growling, "She jumped out a window to save me from Wesker. Just like Jill did for Chris…" I went into the Gummy ship and sat at the helm. Everyone looked at each other, not understanding how I mourned. I knew better than to think of Erin as dead. She was a demon. Of course, that's when it struck me. Maybe, just maybe, Celeste wasn't dead. I sighed, remembering that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. I started up the gummy ship and waited for everyone to get on board.

"Are you sure you want to drive?" Chris asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.  
"Yeah. I'm the only one qualified." I gave him a short glance.  
"You took a test?" Chris raised a brow.  
"Why else would I be the one driving? I'm going back to Radiant Gardens…" I looked forward as Gavin sat in the seat next to me with a whimper. I scratched his ear with a sad smile.  
"I'll be fine, Chris… I'll have a break down later, but I'll be fine until we get there… Besides," I looked up at him with that tell-tale 'I'm really not okay' look, "Wesker is my problem. Not yours now. I will end him. Sooner or later. He will die, by my hand." Chris sighed and put Gavin on the floor, sitting next to me.  
"At least let me be your wing man," he told me. I sighed with a nod. "Okay. But no taking over the controls." He chuckled lightly and got ready for flight.  
"Everyone on?" he asked, turning around.  
"Yeah, everyone's on board," Jill replied, quickly going back to teasing Carlos.  
"Alright Captain. It's your call." Chris looked at me. I nodded to him.  
"Eagle Five to Nest. We're coming home." I let go of my earpiece and put my hands on the steering wheel. I breathed lightly as we took flight.

'For now…'


	52. Chapter 52

The habit of eating again was becoming tedious and quite often I would skip whole meals before the alien feeling of hunger would creep its way into my mind. I hadn't gone anywhere else besides the cockpit, kitchen and bathroom since I started the journey, often just sleeping in the pilot's chair.

I finally decided after two weeks of this process to actually venture into the back rooms where a couple bedrooms and a living room dwelt. The first bedroom I was pleased to see, had little pieces of furniture to almost mimic my old room. I opened drawers to see more clothes than what I had been given and quickly walked back to the kitchen to retrieve my clothes I brought with me and place them in a proper spot. I wandered to the back room to find a group of clothes all folded neatly with a note.

Celeste, I got Hunter to write this note for me, but I thought it might be nice if Sean actually had clothing he could use.

Nexas

I laughed a little as I walked into the living room across from it to find another note. "I really should have looked a lot earlier." I said to myself; the next note was from Hunter:

From what we can possibly guess, you're going to be in this healing state for a long time, and it does work out since it'll take a while to get to radiant garden. For now also if the possibility of an ambush arises, Nemesis cannot use the machine on his arm so long as we are healing your heart. Please stay safe Master.

Hunter

I walked to the bedroom and napped for a long while.

I looked from the Gummi ship window at the lone building in the water, I knew this was the entrance to rapture and that I was a lot stronger than anyone that belonged to this world, but I was terrified out of my mind. Not only was I no longer immortal for an undisclosed amount of time. But someone even more vulnerable than me was inside, thinking I was dead and living in god knows what kind of conditions. I had just eaten and it felt like I had been starved for weeks. With a hard gulp I walked out the gummi into the large doors into the hands of whatever awaited me.

I went into the lift and realized right away the radio was there from the game. Wesker's voice came on and I recoiled in disgust.

"Persistent aren't you?" I bit back a retort. "It's going to do you no good, but come on Toxic." I still didn't understand why he used that name after all this time. "We'll see who rises above the other after what awaits you at the end." I grabbed the radio and attached it to my belt, surprised to see a microphone was attached to it as well. I stepped into the station and swiftly exited; I wandered down the hall trying to remember what awaited and wondering what could be changed.

There were absolutely no enemies that came at me. But almost right away I was stuck not knowing where to go. "You need to fly up and reach the ledge above you, but watch out, the little sister makes her big daddy attack anyone she sees up there. " I blinked confused before I realized it was someone on my radio. _'Does everyone know my signal?'_ I thought to myself as I answered back. "Who is this? Why are you helping me?" It was almost as if I heard a chuckle, but it could have been interference: "Guessing you're who I think you are you'll know who I am right away when I say Subject Delta." My eyes widened. "Wait? You can talk? And who do you think I am?" He paused before answering, I could hear a voice in the back, "Celeste?" I smiled and almost cried, it could only mean one thing. He must really be here. "Who told you?" I couldn't hide my excitement and for a moment I was worried it could be a trap by Wesker. "A man named Sean who's been here for almost three years." I quickly asked. "Can I talk to him? Anything? Please!" He laughed clearly as static sounded. Another voice answered.

"I'm too afraid to ask Delta to pinch me, because I'm scared he'd break something, is it really you sweetie?" I smiled widely as I mumbled quietly, holding back happy tears. "It's me, I'll try to get there as quick as I can. I love you so much, and I'm coming." "I love you so much too sweetheart." I quickly set the radio back and summoned Red's wings to reach the landing.

"Mr. Bubbles! It's an evil angel!" I deflated. "Seriously!" I barely dodged the drill that came thrusting forward. I jumped to a ledge and radioed Delta. "Do I kill it or leave it?" It was drilling one of the supports on the ledge I was clinging to. I closed my eyes trying to think of who I can use to get myself out of this situation. "Shiroko! Scythe!" I held my hand out and a scale styled scythe appeared. I grabbed one end making sure the blade wouldn't hit my arm and flung the other end into the fabric of the big daddy's arm, slicing his drill arm off. It growled in pain as I flung down and dissipated the scythe switching for Tounasu's sickle. I flipped it and rammed the point up into the neck of the big daddy, blood poured out like water as it growled one last time, I jumped out of the way as it fell.

"Mr. Bubbles! Get up!" I sweatdropped remembering how much I had hated them crying in the game. I walked over to it and watched it crawl away not sure what to do.

"Please, don't hurt her." I rolled my eyes, radio was obviously a horrible choice of accessory here. I picked up the radio. "I know there's a Plasmid to save them, where is it?" There was a pause like she didn't expect that. "Down the hall a bit, but please take her with you before she gets away." I looked to see the little sister getting up to run; I quickly ran over and picked her up to her disapproval.

"Put me down evil angel!" I bounced her on my shoulder and ran down the hall, getting beaten the whole way there. I one handedly managed to grab the plasmid and ram it into my leg, seeing as it was the only place I could effectively hit. I felt a jolt as I lost my balance and fell over. Fortunately I recovered quicker than in the game and snatched the little sister up. "No! No no!" I placed my hand on her head as she was engulfed in a bright light. When I opened my eyes again she was a normal girl again and I placed her down. "Thank you for rescuing me." I nodded as I walked away down the hall.

"Thank you so much for saving that little girl." Tenenbaum's thick accent came onto the radio. "It's no problem, really. How do I get to Subject Delta?" I didn't even waste time. I needed to get there and the faster the better. "I'm not quite sure, as far as I know you need to go underwater to reach it." I sighed.

After wandering through a few tunnels I noticed something new about the layout of the area, there were none of the obstacles that were in the game that could be solved with a plasmid. I didn't know if this was good or bad. I then walked a little further too suddenly see my first real puzzle; a big sister appeared out of nowhere and leapt right infront of me before I could get my bearings. I was about to attack when it leapt away again and ran to the window.

"Careful kid! She's doing what they did to me! Get out of there before it blows!" Delta's words came too late as the water pooled into the room faster than I could move. I screamed before being swept underwater and sent away with the current. As I tried to stay awake I was hit in the head by something I never made out, and the world went black. When I awoke back up I found myself in what looked like a bath house, after a little snooping I found a sign that gave me an idea where I was: "Adonis Baths." I figured I had to go around to look for the Atlantic Express to proceed any further. Suddenly my radio went off. _'Good thing it's waterproof' _I thought.

"Kid, you alright? You've been out for 20 minutes, I don't know how you got out of the water but you made yourself a little closer to Sean and I, who I must add has been hyperventilating the whole time." I laughed a little at it; I used to freak him out all the time. It's going to be a lot worse for him now that I can do literally anything and be okay. I looked around. "How different is this place from when you were through it?" I walked down the hall to my left and through the doors towards the station. "It's not that much different, there's no need to melt what I already melted when I was here. Also from what Sean told me the ending was a little different. Persephone didn't crash and burn, rather the escape pod Sophia was in." I nodded as I walked down some stairs and into the room where the hole with the security lock was located near. Instead of using the hack tool like Delta had used, I stepped onto the desk and through the hole.

"You know how easy it could have been for me if I was that small?" Delta fake yelled and I laughed loudly, knowing nothing was going to get me I felt free to do what I wanted. "There are a couple Big Daddies around here with the little sisters, see if you can take them out and free the sisters."I nodded. The task was a lot easier since I didn't have to carry the children and stab my leg this time and before I knew it I was at the Atlantic Express. My stomach rumbled loudly. "I should have brought snacks." I boarded the train and decided to stop at Ryan Amusements to see if I would be able to find something to munch on. "Hopefully I can find more than booze." "You can't go wrong." Delta said from the radio, I laughed lightly walking fearlessly into the amusement park. I wandered a little past the stands, hitting a few robots on the way for the hell of it which caused a few laughs from Sean. I wandered to the gift shop to find a small box of fresh fruit, and a teddy bear. Tenenbaum's voice came in the radio: "The little ones you saved left a little something when they heard you talking about food. There's still quite ripe fruit in the garden." I smiled as I took the little note and put it in my pocket, quickly packing a few fruit and eating the rest as I wandered back to the station. I was glad I was able to skip a lot of work, since it got me to Sean faster, but I was still worried about the shortening of the journey.

My plan was to get as far as I could to Sean as fast as possible, but that was cut short when the train screeched to a sudden stop and my radio went off; "I know why you're here, and I'm not letting you get any further. It's your fault all this has happened to us and I'll send what I still have to be rid of you." I recognized Grace's voice as I opened the door and ran. She had the key, the stupid override key. She continued talking as I ran into the main section and over the diner window, trying to get through the splicers before they became too thick in number to manage. "He came saying we obey or die, he didn't care what we did as long as we didn't get in his way, now I don't care if I die. The ultimate revenge will be killing the reason he came here." I panted as I ran down the hallway into the hotel. The splicers were thicker now and I took out my samurai edge seeing as it had unlimited magical ammo and there were unlimited enemies. I ran to the second floor and decided it would be too dangerous to run down the hall so I decided a different tactic. "Seth! Strength!" I felt my body become surged with energy and in a flash I jumped up to the ceiling and punched a hole in it just big enough to squeeze through. "That was a little overkill kid, but I guess whatever works to get you up there. Though kid you got there Sean!" I laughed as I quickly crawled up into the hole and ran down the hall to Grace's room. She was already waiting for me.

"A lot quicker than Delta I must say, but he had more obstacles than you. You, you're an odd one, with abilities I've never seen before. The thought of Aliens was vast, but I never guessed so close to home." She turned around. "Finish the job already, not like you'll make it much farther anyway." I raised a brow. "What do you mean? And what makes you think I'm on Wesker's side exactly? Conclusion jumping is a dangerous habit." She turned around and looked me in the eyes. "You're not with him, than what do you want here?" I smiled. "My soulmate, he's been holding him for three years from me. I just want him back." She smiled lightly and looked at her mirror with the pictures of her love James. "What's the real story here?" I explained everything, it took quite a while but the look of shock never left her face. "It's almost impossible to believe that someone can witness so much in their life." She walked towards her closet and opened the secret door. "I'll give you this then." A divers suit hung in the back near some pipes. "Judging from how strong a frail looking woman like you possesses, I think you can bear wearing this underwater to make it too Siren Alley. I nodded happily as I took the suit. "What'll happen to you?" I looked at her face, hardened by age. "Who knows, maybe he'll come to get rid of me." I tried to think. In a flash I grabbed the Mic.

"Wesker, you low life, can you hear me at all?" Static, then a voice. "I hear you, I always hear you. And it's amazing how in the face of such odds you still take time to protect worthless humans. You could have joined me when you had the chance, kept others safe by turning in lightless. But alas everything you cherish will fall by my hands." I clenched my jaw in frustration. I looked at Grace and she shoved me forward. "Go! I'll be fine on my own, you better save your soulmate before you end up like me, unable to do anything." I smiled sadly hoping this wouldn't be the last I hear of her. I lifted my radio. "Keep me posted!" I shouted as I used my magic pouch to stash the divers suit until I made it back. Her voice appeared over the PA.

"Friends, we are all together to defeat the one threat, he wants chaos, but we are united, and the ones that still see the light must try to help to get our savior to the finish, to help us obtain our ultimate goal of freedom once again. He is alone in chaos, we are united in the family." I smiled at the speech realizing I at least had a few more allies. When I made it too the station knowing the override key would have been useless since the track was broken and cursing my bad luck, I put the suit on and dived into the murky depths.

The place was easy to navigate and the addition of Seth's strength made the trek even faster, but since the chat with Wesker in the presence of Grace, there hadn't been so much as a peep from him. I finally saw the draining room and ran to enter it. The room had been drained again so I had to make my way to "Lamb's hideout" to find the draining pump to drain my next destination. I froze as a realization came over me. "Fucking brothels, just what I want to go to." I sighed as I walked up into the Pink Pearl. Immediately I found a message on a wall. "Toxic shall be cleansed from Earth by the cure." I tilted my head trying to decipher it, then I looked down. I gasped in shock as I saw Sean's shirt on the ground. I picked up the band tee and tucked it carefully into my pouch hidden under my diver suit.

"Wesker you'll pay for this." I walked from the scene and said as an afterthought. "And I'm supposed to be his only peep show." I heard a mix of a chuckle and gasps from my radio and blushed realizing everyone could hear. Then suddenly I heard Sean over Delta's laughter: "You are sweetie! I've only seen three and a half breasts since I've been here, and that was on one insane splicer!" Delta roared with laughter. "It's true, the poor man was in the corner almost crying saying they weren't yours!" I blushed deeply as I jogged to the other side of the brothel into Plaza Hedone. I had been so dizzy at this point and asked Delta to tell me the way to Lamb's hideout, thankfully he was here or it would have taken hours longer. But I finally found the room I was looking for and ran to the backroom for the drainage system and pulled the lever.

I quickly ran to the exit of the Plaza, running even faster through the brothel to the draining room. I filled it with water to make my way to Dionysus Park.

I wandered over to the draining room for Dionysus park and walked through the door to hear Poole on my radio: "Hey kid, never seen you around. Are you related to the strange people that have been showing up lately?" I wandered through quickly and made it to the train station. He looked at me surprised at how fast I showed up, though I had used Shi's speed a little. I looked at him through the bullet proof window. "I am here for that, I'm going to end it once and for all. Now, will you let me go to them quickly, or do I need to smash this window?" Poole stepped back and looked at me suspiciously.

"Okay, how's about we make a deal instead huh? A little you scratch my back, I scratch yours?" I cringed a bit but answered. "What do I have to do?" He walked a little closer to the window. "well you see, since tin head came through here, Dionysus park have been drained and crawling with baddies. I just want you to drown them so I can get out of here." I rolled my eyes, looking down at the diver suit I still wore. "So where do I have to go to drown it?" He smiled. I cringed again. "There should be a circuit box a little down the hall. But that blonde freak has splicers all around there, keeping me from getting to it for some reason." I thought for a second about it. T was probably because Wesker didn't want anyone finding anything to make themselves an obstacle in his way. He was probably ticked at Grace until she gave me the diver suit. I nodded walking off down the hall.

Well it turned out the hall was blocked so I had to take the long way, passing under a really pretty glass roof and into the back entrance. Realizing the rubble was on this side too but I could make it I took off the diving suit and snuck through, much squeezing, ducking, and cautious climbing later I made it to the tiny cramped, pitch black room. Using Tounasu's fire ability, I lit one hand and looked for the breaker. I sweat dropped horribly; the circuits had been hacked at with something and there was no way of salvaging it. I grabbed the radio. "Bad news Poole. The circus are cut. I need another route so be prepared." I wandered out of the rubble and hastily put the suit back on. I looked around as I wandered back to the glass roofed room. Inspiration struck. I quickly opened my suit a bit and pulled out my Heckler sniper aiming it at the glass. "Kid that's not going to work, it's called reinforced for good reason!" I grinned thinking I was going to find out just how much I could mix my others' powers. I concentrated on sending all of Seth's strength into the bullets and fired the whole clip. Nothing. I sighed defeated and put the gun away. "Told you it wouldn't work." I stopped as I heard a small noise. The glass was cracking. "Poole! Get in the fucking train now and wait for me!" I ran as fast as I could as the glass cracked and finally gave. Using an extra burst of speed in my overweight dining suit I just made it into the train. I sighed tiredly and looked at Poole who was already leading the train down the track. A little while later we made it to Fountaine Futuristics, and without a word, I left the company of Poole and went on my way. I tried contacting Sean and Delta but got no response. Worry started to rise. What if Wesker was already there? What happened to them? I took off the suit and quickened my pace a bit, running right through security, The security Alexander controlled caught sight of me and started yelling in my ear about me wanting his job and having Wesker my right hand man, but I pressed on. I didn't even care for conserving the city anymore, using Seth's strength, I tore through every wooden door I came across, and bent all the metal ones in two. I made it to Alexander's room and the lights were still on. He was begging me to turn them off and let him live. I did just that running and took a sample of his DNA for the genetic key. I ran down the stairs into the draining station and went as fast as I could underwater to the gas pump station. Quickly shoving the key in and crawling down it.

I ran into the beginning of the Persephone and Ran into Delta, in the flesh. "Where's Sean!" He was still in his suit and proceeded to take off his helmet. His hair was a dirty shaggy blonde, littered with a bit of dirt and he had defined green eyes that seemed to unnaturally glow in the darker part of the hall. "I'm sorry, Wesker came out of nowhere and threw me out, I can't go in there, I know I can't do anything. And I don't want to risk anything happening to Sean or you. He looked down, the shadows highlighting the wear and tear of his aged, experienced face. I smiled slightly, not meaning it. "Can you manage to make a getaway for us when I get Sean?" He looked up and nodded. "Good, and let's get the little sisters out of here too. " He put the helmet back on and left my person. I walked into the inner Persephone.

The second I walked in I saw Sean up in a cage suspended far above the floor. "Sean!" I ran up towards it. "Sweetie! I'm so glad I get to see you!" I released Red's wings and flew up. "It's been too long! I can't believe I'm seeing you in the flesh finally!" I just made it to the cage, almost within reach of holding his hand, when Wesker came out of nowhere and shoved me back with inhuman force. I protected myself from falling headfirst at the last second and looked up. "Let him go Wesker!" He looked down at me, gripping Sean's hand tightly. "I can't do that Toxic. You see, you've given me quite a bit of trouble and I've managed to wait this long. I grow impatient at your pace. You just had to come back to life didn't you?" I growled. The next thing he did made my heart stop, he pulled out a P-30. "All actions have consequences Toxic. You're about to find out how bad yours are." I screamed. "No! Please don't! I'll do anything!" He looked to Sean. Negotiations are far too late, Toxic." He directed Sean. "Now go to the table in the chamber and inject yourself with the Plasmids." As he jumped down I started to run towards him to feel myself grabbed from behind. "If you try to move, I'll snap your neck." I snarled at the situation and could only watch in horror as Sean injected himself with Plasmids. "Now take the T-Nemesis at the end." I screamed louder. "Sean! No! Fight it! I know you can! Don't do it!" As soon as he injected the virus he fell to the floor and I ran from Wesker's grip. "Just go die Toxic." I made it to Sean and held him tightly. "Sean, I know you can resist it!" I buried my face in his back, feeling his body start to distort. "I'm so sorry you got stuck in this mess. It's all my fault, I should have killed him when he was in my mind when I had the chance." He reared up and roared and I tried my best to stay on. "No, stay with me Sean!" I watched in horror as the mutation took full form, ending with two long scarf like tentacles shooting out of his back, sending me flying.

I landed on my back hard, staggering around to catch my breath. I quickly looked around to see him turn around and start advancing. I crawled up and released Venix's demon wings to get around all the tight corners. I ran through one of the tunnels and hid behind the first wall I saw. I tried to slow my breathing to no avail as he came through the door after me.

'_Think Celeste, he has a P-30, and he really can't control himself. So it end up I have to tear it off of him, but it even took Chris a long time. I can't doubt myself, I have to do it.'_ He busted the wall with Telekinesis and I ran a bit away to gin distance. "Caroline! Energy Barrier!" Light translucent restraints appeared out of my hands and bounded Sean. I looked at him in horror. The P-30 was imbedded in his skin! I turned around and started pacing. "What am I going to do? It's stuck in him; I can't hurt him. But leaving him like this is not an option." I heard cracking from behind me and looked just in time to get an icy set of claws in my face, hitting my cheek so hard I was flung into the wall.

"Damn, it's no use. I guess I'll have to hurt him and heal him up. Wesker, you'll pay dearly for this." I closed my eyes as they watered up. "Ixiaho, full form" I felt animal instincts take over as I ran up beside Sean. "I don't expect you to forgive me, I won't even forgive myself. I'm so sorry." I jumped back before he could move and raised my scythe looking into his eyes. I froze. His eyes, his perfectly human eyes. And the realization hit me. He could see everything, and hear everything clear as day. I was suddenly overwhelmed with a gut busting pain as his tentacles became imbedded in my right shoulder and left side, followed by an electro bolt shock. Wesker appeared at Sean's side.

"How does it feel Toxic? Having the person you desperately love and want to save about to kill you?" "Eat shit." I snarled. "I can't wait to use him to kill all your friends. All the while, my new pet seeing it all, unable to help himself." "You fucking sick mother fucker." All I could thinhk of was foul language as the pain started to get worse. "This grows old. Sean, kill her slowly. I want to enjoy this. "Only thrill you'll ever get." I retorted as he disappeared.

'_Is this it for me?'_

"You can still hear me right?" My voice was soft and I felt like I was going to pass out soon.

'_If only I had thought it out better."_

"Well I guess it doesn't matter, since I'll be BBQ soon anyway." I looked through blurred eyes as his hand lit on fire. "But if you can still hear me…"

'_I could have saved him and lived on."_

"I'm so sorry for letting this happen." I looked into his eyes as I slowly brought my hands to his face, the cloudier my vision got, the more he looked like his true self.

'_I let everyone down, especially you, my dear soulmate. I'm so sorry I failed you."_

"And almost hurting you, but even at this moment." I leaned close to his tear stained human face.

'_More than that remember, I love you.'_

"I love you." I pressed my lips to his mutated face. I heard some static noises and shattering and slowly felt myself become lowered and his lips become softer. He help me close, burying his face in my hair. "I love you too."

"Impossible! How did you overcome the P-30 without physical force?" I looked at Wesker eyes narrowed to make him out, but to also look intimidating. "Oh, you're still here. One sec sweetie." "Okay sweetie, I'll be right here." I knew it was stupid in my state but I had to. I used Shi's speed and jumped infront of Wesker. "I won't attack now, but let this be a warning." I put my hand to his face and took his glasses. Fleeing back to Sean. "Come on! Delta's waiting!" I could feel myself getting Weaker by the second.

"Don't think you can escape to easily." Wesker growled as his eyes glowed and he disappeared.

"We need to escape fast! Who knows what Wesker'll do or if the splicers are out now." I spoke too soon. "Where do you think you're going!" In an act of rage I whipped out my samurai edge and shot her square in the forehead, blasting the top of it off. "Get the fuck out of my way! And thanks for the soul! I'll use Shizara's ability to destroy it too you stupid fuck!" I walked forward. "You're adorable." I chuckled a bit turning to Sean. "You're more adorable, and take this, you'll need it." I handed him the gun and his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. "Fuck yeah!" After running through a few rooms we found one that had a keypad on it, quite a few splicers trying to get in. Sean shot at them while I busted the door open. "Jackpot!" I screamed as Sean ran in and did the same. The room was filled with plasmid bottles, and needles of Eve. We decided Delta could wait a bit as we stuffed as many as we could into my pouch of awesomeness, now permanently named. After a bit more running we made it to the escape room to see Delta at the bottom next to Tennenbaum and the little sisters scattered about. I rammed the door closed and busted the lock as splicers pounded the door.

"Hurry, the little ones need to get out of here." I didn't question as we loaded all the little sisters into the escape pod. Tennenbaum looked at me. "I cannot thank you enough for saving my little ones, Delta said he can find Jack to take them too, I know he will be willing to take care of them, and we put all the money we have from the outside world in with them to make sure they are well looked after. I smiled as I looked to Delta. "I'm coming too. I want to see Eleanor again and she's going to show us where Jack is." I nodded as the three of us were about to get in the pod as well. I was suddenly flung in the air and pinned to the wall. I heard people call out my name as I looked to see Wesker, who had a death grip on my neck, squeezing more and more. "I should have killed you when I got the chance, not leave you to an abomination." I choked. "Sucks to be you doesn't it?" He gripped harder and leaned in close. "If you want something done right, do it yourself. Goodbye Toxic." I felt vision fade yet again. In a desperate attempt to avoid being chocked further I did the only thing I could think of, I raised my knee between his legs and kneed him as hard as I could, it barely did anything but make him wince in pain. Then, then suddenly, the pressure was gone and I looked to see Sean a mutant again pinning Wesker to the wall with his claws. I could see him talking and managed to pick up what was said.

"If you ever fucking hurt Celeste again I'll tear your fucking heart out!" I blinked, he had a demonic undertone with each word. Wesker merely stared at him. "It seems you still have the virus. I can't wait to see what restricting it did to Toxic." He faded as he said his last words. I stared in shock. What'll happen to us now? Sean cursed letting him get away and looked at my shocked face. His eyes widened and he ran over. "Sweetie! I'm still me! Don't cry! Please! Please! Please!" I laughed as I gave him another kiss. "I know sweetie, I was just teasing!" We walked to the pod quickly and sealed it tight, taking it to the surface. I looked over. "We can probably take the Gummi Ship to land. And hide it when we get there." Delta nodded as we transported all the little sisters into the Gummi and following Delta's instructions headed over to Boston.

We hid it in a local park since we arrived at nightfall and walked to the exit to see Jack and Eleanor waiting for us. They lead us all to a large house and Eleanor lead the little sisters upstairs to show them where they'd be living. "It's amazing how fast they grow up. The ones I got when I came here are as old as Eleanor now." He looked at us. "would you be willing to stay for a while? Dinner perhaps? It's a big thing here." I laughed at the thought of a table full of girls and Jack at the head.

We sat down to a very quiet meal with the older ones telling the younger ones about all the things that have happened lately. Jack mentioned to us before that they would have to go through the whole process of locating all the kidnapped children's parents if there were any left. Not only that but word of his home had reached Media ears and they were constantly trying to get stories and making up ridiculous ones. Sean looked at him a second as he ate. "Where'd you get your tatts?" I giggled behind a forkful of carrots. "They were placed on me at birth in the testing facility. I still like them though." I smiled a bit as I looked at the little sisters, then to Eleanor and Delta having their own conversation opposite Sean and I. Wondering what Delta'll do now. Throughout dinner Sean and I took turns explaining our stories, his first since Jack would understand Rapture better than mine, with all the different worlds and dying and coming back. The little sisters looked at me awe struck. "You really died?" "Were you an angel?" I laughed a bit. "I am an angel in some cases. I death angel, who punishes the bad and rewards the good!" I wiggled my fingers for effect and the little sisters all giggled and awed. "Where's your wings then?" I looked at everyone in turn, only Sean and Delta weren't awaiting it since they already saw it. I got up and walked back a bit. Whispering for Red's wings. In a flash, a pair of white wings popped out. "They're usually black and white but after the accident they haven't replenished yet." A couple of the little sisters got out of their seats and rubbed the feathers lightly. "Wow, sister's a real angel!" I laughed lightly, becoming a little sad that my real sisters weren't here. I looked to Sean as a memory came back. "Claudia's alive!" Sean looked at me. "She's a butterfly in Radiant Garden!" He looked at me in disbelief. "Really? Who else is alive?" I looked for a second. "Did Wesker not tell you anything?" He shook his head. "Vicki, Erin, and Roxy are all… sorta human." "I know that when you filled me in. Anyone else?" I shook my head. "Not that I know but I've been dead for over a year." Jack stood up. "So girls, how about going to bed? You must be tired after your adventure here, right?" They all nodded and wandered upstairs to their rooms. Jack looked at us. "Feel free to stay as long as you'd like." I smiled warmly. "I think we can just stay the night, we need it, then head out in the morning, we've got people to inform of our return." He lead us to a room on the first floor and Sean and I slept close to each other, clinging like we'd lose the other if we let go.

The next morning we had a quick group breakfast and a round of goodbyes. Then one little girl, about 12, came running up to us. "Please don't leave! I want to stay with you! You all are saviours!" I looked down at her and patted her head. "What's your name?" "Cindy." I froze. "Don't you have parents who are looking for you?" She shook her head sadly, this was the one from Bioshock 2. I looked at Jack who nodded slightly. I looked to Sean. "Can we keep her?" He looked like he wanted to just as much and after a quick signing we took her on the Gummi ship with us. Delta came tagging up behind. "Hey is it okay if I join too? There's not much for me here after all." "What about Eleanor?" "I have to be a father and let her go. We can always come back right?" I nodded. I had learned from Cid in the beginning you can wrap to already visited areas, so it would be quicker on this gummi. "Of course!" The four of us got on the gummi and shot off in the direction of Radiant Garden. I alerted Sean there was clothes in the back and after changing he sat down in the passenger seat. "How are they?" "They fit like clothes that fit! And having a shirt is a forgetting luxury I don't want to lose." I laughed "We're a ways from base still, anyone up for sightseeing?" Everyone nodded as we left the worlds atmosphere and zoomed back to everyone. _'See you soon everyone.´_ I thought to myself.


	53. Chapter 53

We landed rather softly on the soil of Radiant Gardens. Chris asked why we landed there. I told him I needed to be alone for a while. He nodded and let me off. It had only been maybe a couple weeks since Celeste's death now. Hell, I didn't know if there was a body. I walked through the city and found what had happened. Somehow, my powers grew again, and I was able to see into the past. I really needed to find a lock for my powers. It was getting a little out of hand. But for now, I watched Celeste fight back Nemesis desperately. Wesker was already smirking. Out of rage, I punched the image, which vanished. I howled in mourning, which alarmed the rest of the group, coming down to see the destruction of the city. I could hear a collective gasp as I shifted into my beast form and took off. I ran like there was no tomorrow. All I could think about now was 'If I was only there'. Maybe she would have survived, maybe I would have been captured, and maybe we both would have died. But at least I could have done something. I didn't even realize my pendant was glowing until I collapsed. The cherry blossom pendant, so simple, yet, it calmed me down enough to think. I sat up and howled again, much longer than the last. I listened as another howl came into my mind. It was… demonic. I lay down and rested, trying to keep my body conscious of its surroundings.

"You call for power?" it asked. I could see the image of a daemon type Hiren'Faroth.  
"Who are you first?" I demanded.  
"That's exactly who I am, the First," he replied with a demonic snicker. I didn't like where this was going.  
"What are you doing here, First?" my ancestor growled. I could tell the two of them were not happy with each other.  
"She is my descendant as well, Tarim. You should be proud. She has the potential," First explained. My ancestor growled darkly.  
"You cannot have her, she has a destiny to fulfill," he hissed.  
"Tarim, Tarim, Tarim… will you ever learn? I can have whoever I want! Besides, I simply wanted to bestow my power upon her, so she doesn't have to rely solely on yours," First hissed.  
"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked.  
"Sure… if you know what's the right choice," First grinned.  
"Pup…"  
"I know what I'm doing, Ancestor," I sighed, "I will not take the power First. I will become a Crystal Wing on my own accord. It may take longer, but right now, I don't need to give Wesker another reason to hunt me. Thank you for the offer." I got up and shut the voices out. "I should train, rather than mope… Hm…" I focused my energy into my voice and howled. It shook the ground. I smirked and continued to focus on making myself stronger and faster. I needed to do this for myself. For Erin… but mostly, for Celeste…

It had been a few years since that day. I was now 22, and had my own image again. We figured out back then how to revert me back. But now, my unkempt hair was taken care of, and still short. I liked it that length. I usually leaned back in a chair in the library to get some sleep. After all of these years, I just couldn't sleep in that room Celeste and I shared. PJ was quiet around me now. We had duked out our frustration with each other a while ago, so now we had calmed down. I looked over at Gavin, now back to his human form. How did that work? We payed a visit to Aina and Morganna on New Spira. Aina was doing well for herself, although she was stressed out with dealing with the Drow. Morganna explained to us that it was necessary for Gavin to take another form, just like Claudia and Kendra. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find Sean in time. By the time I got back with Gavin, Radiant Gardens was arming for a war. I continued missions with Sora, Riku, and Kairi every now and then, but most of my time was spent training. This day was no exception. However, I wasn't at Radiant Gardens. Instead, Dante had the amusement of trying to train me.

"Now focus," he told me. Since I had Gavin back, he had given up on hitting on me. I knew it had been just to bother me now, so it really wasn't necessary. I breathed in slowly. Of course he would try training me with a blindfold. My ear twitched as I blocked his strike. I countered with a kick to get some distance and stabbed his chest. He smirked.  
"Okay, that's enough for now." I nodded. Gavin came out and picked me up, causing me to yelp with surprise. Dante chuckled, because it seemed that Gavin was one of the few people able to catch me off guard. Gavin removed my blindfold and kissed me. I went bright red, as usual, and hung in his arms.  
"Pizza's going to be here soon," he chuckled. Dante and I nodded. I was surprised how easily Gavin could fight. He used magic, mostly, but his handling of a sword was surprisingly good. Dante pulled the training sword out of his chest. We went inside, sitting around the office. Dante faked a gag at any time Gavin and I got mushy. I just chuckled and snuggled into him.  
"So Princess… Do you think you are ready?" Gavin whispered into my ear. Only he could ever call me Princess. The reason was very complicated to explain. I shook my head.  
"No… but we have to go sooner or later, don't we?" I sighed. Gavin nodded. Claudia bounced down the stairs, now free from her butterfly form. She rushed into the kitchen to check on something. As soon as the oven opened, I smelt cookies.  
"Cookies?" I asked, looking over at the entry way.  
"Yup! But you have to eat your dinner first!" she chimed, pulling them out of the oven. We brought Kendra and Claudia along to meet Dante. Kendra was a little less keen on that than Claudia, but they got along just fine. Maybe it was the fact that Claudia was the one that almost blew him up with Pandora. Who knew she could use it? Kendra shifted around with her mouse form, commonly choosing it over her human and staying with Claudia. At that moment, Kendra was in the kitchen with Claudia. She had been moody recently, but that was understandable. She felt like she had no one. I had decided to leave her at Radiant Gardens for her own sanity. She needed their company more than I did.

I relaxed until late that night. I sat alone with my thoughts on the roof of Devil May Cry. I listened to a song that was stuck in my head. I pressed for the words until they came to me.  
"Kotoba ni wa naranai, omoi o dakiagete, namae o sagashiteta, kurayami to yoake no, sukima ni… Hitorikiri. Hashiru you ni nobiteiku, musuu no inori no hitotsu ga koko ni aru no…. Rokujuu oku no kodoku ga, miageteru, hateshinai sora ni, me o korasu, chippoke na, negaigoto to kakaete, maarui hoshi ni… Aoi hi ga tomoru yunibaasu…." It felt so natural for me to be singing these words. I hadn't noticed anyone coming up behind me.  
"Vicki? Are you alright?" I jumped, just about right off the building.  
"G-Gavin?" I turned in surprise with a blush. I sang for almost no one in Japanese.  
"Isn't that Maaya Sakamoto's Universe?" he asked with a chuckle.  
"Yeah… Although I'm not great at singing…" I sat back down and hummed it.  
"No, it was beautiful. Really…" He sat next to me. "I'd like to hear the rest of it." I blushed and continued from where I left off. To be honest, I was always uncomfortable with my singing voice.  
"Tsukiakari no shita ni, mado akari wa ikutsu, onaji hoshi no ue ni, mado akari wa ikutsu, kazoeru, hitotsuzutsu… Massugu ni nobiteiku, hontou no, kotae wa, jibun no, naka ni aru no… Rokujuu oku no kodoku ga, miageteru, hateshinai sora ni, me o korasu, kagiri aru, sono inochi moyashite, maarui hoshi ni, aoi hi ga tomoru yunibaasu… Aoi hi o matou yunibaasu." I finished the song and leaned against him.  
"Your voice is so pretty…" I simply smiled and cuddled him.

It was so long since I was able to actually relax. I hadn't seen Celeste's body at all, and I knew Erin wasn't coming back. She had herself marked as a traitor by Wesker. Come to think of it, lately Wesker had been busy off doing his own thing. I shook the thought out of my head. I was getting ever closer to finding him, I didn't have to worry. I soon fell into a troubled sleep on Gavin's shoulder.

"Ready to leave?" Kendra called out the next day. She was eager to leave this place. I guess Dante just made her uncomfortable. I looked up at the ship.  
"Yeah, just let me know when everything is on board." I turned to Dante, who gave me a pat on the shoulder.  
"Take care kid," he said with a smile.  
"Don't worry about me, Dante. I've got all of the best training I could get," I smiled at him. His face hardened a little with concern.  
"If you need someone to talk to, you know you can just come to me, right?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I know. But I need to do this one on my own," I chuckled. He nodded with understanding. I caught him off guard by hugging him. Dante let out a chuckle and hugged me back. We had actually become good friends out of this, and he seemed to really appreciate the fact that I didn't charge him with endless bills. We parted as I took the driver's seat. I looked around as Gavin got the last thing on board. It was a memento from Erin. In typical Erin fashion, it comprised of two things, so Dante got the other half. Dante's half was a note that read: "I owe you (for once) one Rebellion, and a pair of Ebony and Ivory". Of course, she would taunt him with the fact that she could successfully steal his weapons. I looked up at the sky as we took off. Erin's memento to me was a photo album. It comprised of all the pictures of us together. Mostly of me, Celeste and her. But there were a few in the back that were either just me, Celeste or Erin. I couldn't look at it often. They were all such happy memories… I shook my head, going back to paying attention to the road ahead.

We landed in Radiant Gardens not too long after. I walked out of the ship and went to do something incredibly stupid. I pulled myself into the room I once shared with Celeste. It had been left the way it was the last time one of us had been there. I put the photo album on my bedside table. I looked around at all of the memories. I pulled on my pack and my sword. Thanks to Tarim, I now was able to control the fact that I didn't want to grow anymore in my power for now. It would have been distracting. I pulled of the clothing I was wearing and pulled on a purple shirt. Rather than a pair of sweat pants, I pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans. The blue bandana went around my neck. I pulled on my second pair of black boots and laced them up to my knees. I pulled on my long jacket, and my gloves. Finally, I looked in the mirror. I looked so different now as opposed to then. Even I could see the determined fire in my own eyes. I sighed and pulled the last item to complete the outfit. The cherry blossom pendant glowed brightly as it finally let out its secret. I recoiled in shock and fell over.

It seemed that I had been transported to another world. Feeling around, I knew it was an illusion. An illusion of what, who knew? But then again, I probably did. The illusion had trees and flowers everywhere. I felt like I was falling when something flashed in front of my eyes. I looked over at it.  
"H-hey wait!" I got up to chase it when the illusion dispersed.  
'… What in the universe was that?' I thought, just staring at what was now the door.

It took me a couple moments to recover. I ran out to the docking bay and grabbed a long distance ship. I had no idea how to work the pendant, but I think it was supposed to take me where I wanted to go, sort of like Jack Sparrow's compass. I started up the gummy ship and flew out into space. I could hear the alarms going off in the castle after a couple of minutes. I shut off communication to them and held up my pendant.  
"Come on… show me where to go…" The pendant glowed, lifting up. "I want to find Albert Wesker." It created an arrow ahead of me. I followed the arrow to another planet. Along the way, I noticed that the others caught on that I was headed to Wesker's lair. Now, it was just a matter of time before I got there.

It seemed like forever as I flew solo. I had found that listening to music was a good way to keep me sane. It just wasn't the same without someone there to share it with me. I noticed a rather friendly looking planet and decided to make a pit stop. I landed on the ground lightly. It was a pretty place.  
'Maybe I could relax here until I figure out where to go…' I thought as I lay back in the grass. I yawned as I watched the breeze float through the tall wheat grass.  
'This place looks familiar, now that I-' My thought was interrupted by a sudden screech of metal. I sat up and looked around to find the source of the sound.  
'Looks like I'm in for a solo mission as well…' I thought as I walked around. There was what seemed to be a shack in the middle of nowhere. It was very hot now, so I went back to the gummy ship and changed into just a white tank top, dark blue shorts, and a pair of black sneakers.  
"I look like a test subject." I didn't know why that popped out of my mouth. But, for some odd reason, it didn't seem out of place.

I sighed as I went back to the shack and walked in. It took a second to register that I was falling. I looked down and saw a pale light. As I got closer, I noticed it was really a pale floor.  
"Holy crap!" I watched a blue ringed portal open right where I was going to land and fell through it. I was flung into another part of the room and knocked unconscious.

I awoke in another room. Pearly white, with a couple layers of glass over my eyes.  
'Was that all a dream…? Am I in a hospital room…?' I thought. One glass layer pulled away from my eyes. 'Nope. Shit. I know where I am.' I sat up and shook my head. I rolled out of the bed.  
'You've got to be kidding me… I'm a test subject now…?' I looked down at myself. I had been outfitted with long fall boots. 'Not that I need them, but okay.' My clothing was the same, at least under the orange Aperture Science Laboratories jumpsuit. 'Huh…'

"Hello, and again, welcome to the computer aided enrichment center." My eyes went wide.  
'Shit, it's GLaDOS… Wait, then where's Chell?'  
"We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault was a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed, and we are now ready to begin the test proper." I tuned out the rest of the drone to pick up a security guide on a clipboard. Everything I remembered was there. I looked at where the portal would appear. The voice sped up a bit, which alarmed me. I looked back and listened.  
"I'm back. The portal will open in three, two, one." The portal opened.  
'I guess I have to go through these tests until I can get out. Maybe find Chell along the way…'

I walked through the portal and into the first chamber. It looked a little run down, but familiar. I ignored the drone of GLaDOS's voice and picked up the weighted storage cube. I tossed it behind me and onto the Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button.  
'And that's how you do it, kids.' Yes, I was already bored. I walked to the elevator and notice it was mostly broken. I crawled down the walls and heard a distinctive screech of metal against metal.  
'Uh… that's not good…' I crawled out just in time to watch the elevator fall past.  
'Eh heh heh heh…. That was close…' I went to the next part of the test chamber and notice how run down it looked. It was worse than the last room. I touched the glass and watched it shatter.  
'GLaDOS… You haven't made it this far yet, have you…?' I threw the cube onto the button and walked to the elevator. This one was ready for me. GLaDOS started cleaning up and fixing up behind me.  
'Oh… That must mean Chell's already far ahead of me, if I remember Portal 2 right. But I should be almost at a point of my own escape from here…' I walked over to the fixed wall of chamber 2 and watched the blue portal hit the wall next to me. I went through to another part of the room. I could see the blue portal gun firing at the walls. I jumped down to grab it, but the floor caved. I landed on all fours, locking my arms and legs so it would hurt less. It was only a floor down, but the fall felt like forever. I looked up slowly. The hole seemed about ten stories high.  
"Well isn't this just great!" I grabbed the gun and ran up to the next test room.

I looked around at the completely fixed test room. Looking around, I noticed Chell didn't seem to like the cameras. GLaDOS was still trying to fix them. "Hey! Hey you!" I looked around and found the source of the voice. Wheatley. The metal ball of a core nodded over to me. "Follow me and get out of here." Too appealing were those words. I bolted for the opening. "Wait. Come back!" I heard GLaDOS sensing my presence leaving the room, "Your cake awaits you at the end of these tests!" Did she not realize that wouldn't work on me? Probably not. After all, I still looked human. "Thanks…" I whispered as I passed him. "Ah! So you can speak!" he chimed, leading me towards Chell. "Yeah, I can. But you need to find that other girl. I saw her trying to escape a while ago before I was caught," I said. I didn't want to screw up the storyline too much. Staying away from Chell and Wheatley were my best shots at it. "You know about her?" His voice was full of intrigue. "It's really hard to explain, but think of it this way, I'm not supposed to even be here." "Oh…." "So go find her and get her out of here. I'll find my own way out." Wheatley reluctantly nodded and took off in another direction. I jumped down some of the cat walks. I actually wanted to go down into the lower levels before something else happened. I just didn't know when it would. Hopefully, I got there on time.


End file.
